INDIANAPOLIS — On Aug. 1, the Indiana Convention Center (ICC) broke ground on its 143,500-square-foot expansion that will also see a new convention headquarter hotel built. The project is part of a strategic plan to help boost growth in downtown Indianapolis.
The expansion, which is the sixth for the ICC, is expected to be completed in 2026 and will put the ICC in the rankings of the top 10 convention center ballrooms by size in the U.S. With the extra space being created through the project, the ICC will also have the capacity to hold two city-wide conventions simultaneously. Connecting the new expansion to the existing convention center will be a skywalk over Capitol Avenue.
Another part of the expansion project is the construction of a new Signia by Hilton on the site. The hotel will be the tallest hotel in the city, with 40 stories and 800 hotel rooms. Climate-controlled skywalks will also connect more than 5,500 hotel rooms to the convention center once the expansion is complete.
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The additional convention space and hotel rooms are good news for the trade show and exhibition organizers looking to continue growing their events in Indianapolis.
“From 2010 to June 2023, Visit Indy tracked 1,800 potential meetings who could not meet in the city because of the lack of space and/or dates, tallying a total of $4.1 billion in lost business,” Visit Indy President and CEO Leonard Hoops said. “We believe this expansion will allow Visit Indy to restart conversations with these groups and steer these into place. We also know the project will help us to retain $300 million in annual cornerstone conventions, our large annuals who were outgrowing our city.”
The ICC holds annual conventions including the Performance Racing Industry (PRI) Trade Show, Indiana Black Expo, the National FFA Convention & Expo and Gen Con.
Reach Leonard Hoops at (317) 262-3000 or lhoops@VisitIndy.com
