The Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center opened 20 years ago in September 2004. It has been a successful regional project because it included not only the Convention Center but also the University of South Carolina’s Colonial Life Arena, the Columbia Hilton Hotel and a new city parking garage. The $37.
4 million, 142,500 square-foot center has been a significant economic engine for the entire Midlands region, bringing in tourists and visitors as well as conventions. It has generated millions of dollars in economic impact, from booked hotel rooms and restaurant meals to jobs. It can do even more.
A partnership between the city of Columbia, Richland and Lexington counties, Richland School District One, USC, the state of South Carolina and the South Carolina Department of Transportation, this project has played an important role in both revitalizing Columbia’s downtown and being a catalyst for the University of South Carolina’s westward expansion across Assembly Street. Like other great regional partnerships such as the Riverbanks Zoo and Garden, the Columbia Metropolitan Airport and the River Alliance, the Convention Center has had a tremendous and lasting impact in advancing our community. As successful and as great a source of pride as the Convention Center is today, it did not get built without significant controversy, years of failed efforts and competing proposals.
One would have built it over the Congaree River. While building a convention center took persistence .