Austin to Expand its Convention Center, But Faces 4 Years Without It

The Austin Convention Center will close on April 1, 2025, following next year’s South by Southwest to start work on a new, larger facility scheduled to reopen in 2029. 

That means Austin will be without a major convention center for four years but the hope is the expansion will help it land business it’s been missing out on. 

A lack of space has resulted in Austin losing 50% of the leads it receives, Tom Noonan, president and CEO of Visit Austin, told Skift Meetings. “This new center will allow us to be more competitive within the state and with our major national competitors.”  

At present, the Austin Convention Center has 376,000 sq. ft. of space. Austin is the 11th largest city in the U.S. but the convention center ranks 59th. The plan is to double its size. 

The economy will grow by $282 million as a result of a bigger convention center, said Austin Mayor Kirk Waston. 

“We have been holding dates in Austin for 2032, and this is the news we’ve been waiting for. I believe this planned redevelopment will open the door for many more groups to consider Austin for their future conferences,” said Kirsten Olean, senior director, meeting planning and design of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

Austin Open for Meetings Business

Noonan stresses that Austin will still be hosting events while construction is underway. “The most important thing to say is that we’re not closed for meetings business between ‘25 and ‘29. We’re pushing in-house business to hotels across the city,” he said. 

“We’re the first major city in America that’s done this in terms of the entire facility. Especially for the 40 months that we’ll be doing the construction. It’s not a short period of time, but we’ve put together a strategy to offset the loss of the convention center as much as we possibly can,” said Noonan.

A Tourism Public Improvement District (TPID) is in the works to fund the project. The district will be funded by a 2% nightly room fee imposed on 100+-room hotels across the city. It is projected that the TPID will generate approximately $390 million in revenue over 10 years. 

The TPID must be approved by 60% of all city hotels with 100+ beds. Austin expects to reach this threshold imminently, allowing the TPID to go into effect on October 1.

The TPID will help make up for the lost revenue during its closure. Visit Austin will help groups find alternative space in hotels and other venues when the convention center is closed.