Georgia World Congress Center

Georgia World Congress Center
Address	285 Andrew Young Intl Blvd NW
Location	Atlanta, Georgia
Coordinates	33°45′31″N 84°23′54″W / 33.758652°N 84.39841°WCoordinates: 33°45′31″N 84°23′54″W / 33.758652°N 84.39841°W
Owner	State of Georgia
Opened	1976
Enclosed space
• Total space	3,900,000 sq ft (360,000 m^2)
• Ballroom	Yes
Parking	Over 5600 spaces[1]
Public transit access	Dome / GWCC / Philips Arena / CNN Center (MARTA station)
Website	www.gwcc.com

The Georgia World Congress Center (GWCC) is a convention center in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Enclosing some 3.9 million ft² (360,000 m²)^{[2] [3]} in exhibition space and hosting more than a million visitors each year, the GWCC is the third-largest convention center in the United States. Opened in 1976, the GWCC was the first state-owned convention center established in the United States. The center is operated on behalf of the state by the Georgia World Congress Center Authority, which was chartered in 1971 by Georgia General Assembly to develop an international trade and exhibition center in Atlanta. The authority later developed Centennial Olympic Park and the Georgia Dome.

In addition to convention and trade shows, the GWCC often coordinates with the Georgia Dome to host activities in conjunction with major events being held at the dome. Every year, the center hosts SEC Football Fanfare, a two-day fan festival for the thousands of Southeastern Conference football fans in the city for the SEC Championship Game. The center played host to a similar event in tandem with WrestleMania XXVII, WrestleMania Axxess.^[4]

The GWCC is located in downtown Atlanta at 285 Andrew Young International Boulevard NW, adjacent to Centennial Olympic Park, the Georgia Dome, CNN Center and Philips Arena. Public transportation is serviced by the Dome/GWCC/Philips Arena/CNN Center MARTA station. Delta Air Lines previously had a ticket office in the lobby of the complex.^[5]

Though similarly named, the Georgia International Convention Center is a smaller unrelated facility located near Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

Layout

The GWCC is made up of three adjacent buildings, Buildings A, B, and C. In total these buildings have twelve exhibit halls, 105 meeting rooms, and two ballrooms. Building A has three exhibit halls and the Sidney Marcus auditorium seating 1,740. Building B, the largest, contains five exhibit halls and the 33,000 square-foot (3,065 m ²) Thomas B. Murphy Ballroom. The newest building, Building C, has four exhibit halls and the 25,700 square-foot (2,387 m ²) Georgia Ballroom. Other amenities include a FedEx Kinko's office, Starbucks coffee shops, a gift shop, internet access, telephone service, and full IT management provided by CCLD (Convention Center Long Distance), a concierge desk, and a food court plus another restaurant. Freight rail tracks run through the middle of the complex and under the parking decks. The complex incorporates pedestrian bridges to connect exhibit halls on opposite sides of the tracks.

History

See article: 2008 Atlanta tornado outbreak.

Georgia World Congress Center on March 15, 2008 after the tornado.

Designed by Atlanta-based architects tvsdesign (formerly Thompson, Ventulett, Stainback & Associates - TVS), the GWCC opened in 1976 with 350,000 square feet (33,000 m²) of exhibit space. Additional phases opened in 1985, 1992, and 2002. During the 1996 Summer Olympics, the GWCC hosted handball, fencing, judo, table tennis, weightlifting, wrestling, and the fencing and shooting portions of the modern pentathlon.^[6][7] The International Broadcast Center for the worldwide media was also set up inside the GWCC. On November 8, 2001, President George W. Bush made a speech at the GWCC in which he exhorted the crowd of police, firefighters, and politicians, "My fellow Americans, Let's roll!",^[8] a phrase he would later use at the 2002 State of the Union address. The center also hosted the 2009 Soul Train Music Awards, the first held outside of the Los Angeles area.

On 14 March 2008, a tornado struck Atlanta, including the downtown area. The Georgia World Congress Center was heavily damaged by the storm, including roof and water damage. In addition to rain pouring in from the holes in the roof, there was also water damage from the sprinkler system and broken water pipes. The extent of the damage led to the cancellation of immediate events. After the disaster, a letter was posted on the GWCC's website detailing the closure of the GWCC. However, the facility along with the nearby Georgia Dome was able to be repaired enough to host the FIRST Robotics World Championship during the dates of April 18–20. The Georgia Dome and the Congress Center were also ready in time for the International Career Development Conference (ICDC) run by DECA, an association of marketing students from around the country. FBLA-PBL, a student business organization, held its opening and closing sessions for the National Leadership Conference in 2008 there. The tornado was the first to hit the downtown area since weather record keeping began in the 1880s.^[9]

References

1. "Georgia World Congress Center - Parking". Retrieved May 7, 2014.
2. http://www.gwcc.com/doc/mpreport3.pdf
3. http://www.gwcc.com/about/Fun_Facts.aspx
4. http://www.wwe.com/shows/wrestlemania/wrestlemaniaweek/
5. "City Ticket Offices." Delta Air Lines. Retrieved on November 20, 2012. "285 International Blvd. Atlanta, Georgia 30313 " and "Location: Georgia World Congress Center lobby, across from Philips Arena
6. 1996 Summer Olympics official report. Volume 1. pp. 540-1.
7. 1996 Summer Olympics official report. Volume 3. pp. 448, 455, 457, 459-60, 462, 466.
8. "CNN.com - Transcript of Bush speech in Atlanta - November 8, 2001". November 8, 2001. Retrieved 2008-06-30.
9. Tornado Kills, 2 Pummels Downtown by Tim Eberly and Paul Shea for the Atlanta Journal and Constitution, March 15, 2008. Retrieved March 15, 2008.

External links

• Georgia World Congress Center website