Hotel Online  Special Report

The Overland Park, Kansas Convention Center and the
412-room Sheraton Hotel Hotel Opened
at the Right Space, Right Time

Overland Park, KS  � July 25, 2003 -  The new $47 million Overland Park, Kansas Convention Center is enjoying a long list of bookings, exceeding initial expectations and despite sagging business and convention travel. This can partly be attributed to the size and amenities offered by the center, which fills a regional void for a large, suburban convention site.

Designed by the Overland Park office of DLR Group in conjunction with TVS Architects, the center offers 60,000 SF of exhibition space, plus 25,000 SF of banquet space and 15,000 SF of meeting space. A full-service kitchen, including a kosher prep area, serves the entire facility. A 25,000-SF outdoor courtyard lays between the convention center and contiguous hotel. The courtyard has a sub-grade drainage system and two power columns to allow for outdoor exhibits. The center and hotel opened in November 2002.

It is on the inside where differences in the facility are more noticeable. A large component of the design program included incorporating advanced technology throughout the convention center as well as the attached Sheraton Hotel. The convention center features Ethernet and fiber-optic connections, satellite downlink capabilities, security-linked electronic door locks throughout, plasma screen display boards and a Cyber Café with high-speed Internet stations. The hotel rooms include two live phones with data ports and high-speed Internet access, as well as wireless Internet access through the guest�s television. Pubic spaces throughout the hotel are pre-cabled to enable wireless devices.

Both the convention center and hotel also feature extensive original artwork of area artists. The convention center boasts more than 65 individual pieces of art. The most prominent piece is a 35-foot sculpture comprised of 178 pieces of multicolored blown glass and suspended within the icon tower, the convention center�s exterior landmark.

The fast-track schedule of the project enabled the relatively short, 36 months, completion of the project, but the true evolution of the facility took much longer � almost two decades.

Beginning in the 1980s city officials earmarked a portion of the local hotel guest tax to design and build the complex. Early facility studies showed the area could not support a sizeable facility, but as the city grew, so too did the need for such a facility.

By the mid-1990s the need for a full-service facility and attached hotel did exist and city officials began researching funding and site options; a development team and site were chosen in 1999.

Garfield Development Corporation and local Kansas City developer CB Richard Ellis led the unique funding process for the project. The convention center is financed through traditional general obligation bonds issued by the City of Overland Park. But the $55 million hotel is financed through tax-exempt bonds as allowed by a special IRS ruling.

IRS Ruling 63-20 allows hotel developments that serve a public purpose to qualify for special tax considerations. The bonds were issued through a not-for-profit corporation established by the city. When the bonds are paid off however, ownership of the hotel reverts back to the city.

Only six months old, the convention center is off to a successful start. The most recent bookings for the convention center show 254 contracted events for 2003; a pre-project feasibility study estimated 224 events for the year. The center is projected to generate $80 million in business annually for Overland Park and the surrounding area by 2006. DLR Group designed the convention center for easy expansion when the need arises.

Though many, many years in the making, the Overland Park Convention Center and Hotel have lived up to expectations. �All of us who have been involved in this process over the years feel like the product we�re going to have has been well worth the wait,� according to Ed Eilert, mayor of Overland Park since 1981.

DESIGN GOALS

Overland Park Convention Center and Hotel 
Overland Park, Kansas

After more than 20 years, the City of Overland Park realized their dream to build a convention center complex to fill the void of local exhibit space. The resulting Overland Park Convention Center and attached Sheraton Hotel not only provide exceptional exhibit space; both facilities set new standards in the hospitality industry.

Design criteria for the convention center and hotel included:

  • Maximum visibility/identity
  • Expansion capability
  • Easy accessibility/arrival sequence
  • Separation of service areas
  • Convenient, ample parking
  • Secure connection between convention center and hotel
  • Integrated technology
  • Harmony with the site
  • Unique sense of place
The design team focused on crafting the convention center and adjoining hotel as signature buildings for the City.  A prominent 26-acre site adjacent to the major interstate looping around Kansas City offered prime exposure opportunities. 

At more than 230 feet tall, the hotel tower is one of the tallest buildings in Overland Park and immediately visible throughout the city. Lacking the height of the hotel tower, designers had to create a focal point for the convention center. The resulting illuminated glass icon tower serves to signify the main entrance to the center as well as provide a branding tool in marketing and communications materials for the convention center and city. 

Designers were also challenged to provide individual identities for each facility while keeping them joined as a single destination complex. Complimentary contemporary designs and similar building materials tie the 237,000 s.f. convention center to the contiguous 412-room hotel. Both buildings have similar envelopes � brick on low elevations, exterior insulation finishing systems at higher elevations, large glass curtainwall windows, standing seam roofing and membrane roofing.

The three main convention center components include 60,0000 s.f. of exhibition space, 15,000 s.f. of meeting space, and 25,000 s.f. of banquet/multi-purpose space with a full-service kitchen. The exhibit and banquet spaces can be combined to provide a full 90,000 s.f. of space (incorporating a 5,000 s.f. service corridor between the two.) The convention center has Ethernet and fiber-optic connections, satellite downlink capabilities, security-linked electronic door locks throughout, plasma screen display boards and a Cyber Café with high-speed Internet stations to allow guests to surf the web or check e-mail. Such extensive technological applications were a priority for the owner to set the Overland Park center apart from existing centers.

Also unique to the convention center is the inclusion of more than 60 pieces of original art, all produced by regional artists. A 35-foot multicolored blown glass sculpture suspended within the icon tower is a featured piece. The varying opaque and transparent glass panels enclosing the icon tower showcase the sculpture and give more prominence to the icon tower.

The hotel contains a 12,000 s.f. ballroom and an additional 13,000 s.f. of meeting space. Forward-thinking technology applications were also included throughout the facility; public spaces of the hotel are pre-cabled to enable wireless devices. Meeting rooms are wired with Ethernet and dedicated T-1 connections. Each guest room has two live phones with data ports and high-speed Internet access through the hotel�s broadband connection.

With a first-class designation, the hotel interiors required extra attention to detail and finishes. The grand lobby boasts 24-foot ceilings, custom-designed high gloss cherry and maple wood accents, natural stone flooring and polished nickel accents. Custom designed carpet, coffered ceilings and dramatic light fixtures complete the lobby and adjacent bar and restaurant areas. The Sheraton describes the interiors as �bold and dramatic. [It] exudes quality, elegance and Kansas City tradition, yet is edgy enough to attract the area's hip young, high-tech client base.�

The hotel also has an indoor pool, health club, business center and gift shop. The hotel restaurant is billed as an intimate, upscale Italian chophouse. 

Designers also integrated a 25,000 s.f. outdoor courtyard between the hotel and convention center into the overall complex layout. The additional space can be used for pre-function or as reception space for events. The courtyard has a sub-grade drainage system and two 400-amp power columns to allow for outdoor exhibits.

Guests travel between the convention center and hotel along a spine at the edge of the courtyard. An open-air walkway connects the two facilities on the main level. An enclosed, secure corridor provides access on the lower level.

The City of Overland Park also requested a design for the convention center to allow for possible future expansion.  Walls on the north side of the center have an EFIS façade to facilitate demolition of the walls where the expansion would occur.

The main entrances for both facilities, as well as primary vehicular access to the complex is located off a major city thoroughfare on the south side of the site; a large drop-off circle serves both facilities. For improved facility access and parking, civil engineers rerouted and completed an existing secondary city street on the north side of the complex. Surface parking is on the north side, as well as access to covered convention center parking. Covered hotel parking is accessed from the southwest side of the site.

About DLR Group
DLR Group is a national architecture and engineering firm with 18 offices across the country including Kansas City, MO and Overland Park, KS.  The firm works primarily in the education, sports and entertainment, criminal justice and corporate markets. Area DLR Group projects include the Kansas Speedway, Turner High School and the Overland Park Convention Center and Hotel. 

###

Contact:
Penny Ramsey
DLR Group
Phone: 913-897-7811
www.dlrgroup.com

Kurt Brown
Sheraton Hotel at the Convention Center 913/234-2100



 
Also See Hotel Construction Is Down Nationally and in Kansas City, Mo. / Sept 2002
Unable to Lure Private Developers, City of Fort Worth Considers Certificates of Obligations to Finance $130 million Convention Center Hotel / Oct 2002


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