The Power & Light District Continues To Shine Brightly, a Year After Launch
Kansas City’s $850 million downtown revitalization, led by the Power & Light District, continues to remake the city, especially for meetings.
“The Power & Light District is a great addition,” said Rick Hughes, president and CEO of the Kansas City Convention & Visitors Association. “It really completes our convention package and allows us to offer a full-service downtown.”
The nine-block district, now a year old, has more than 40 restaurants and entertainment venues surrounding the Kansas City Convention Center, which underwent a $135 million expansion in 2007 that added a 46,450-sf ballroom - one of the nation’s 10 largest. The district also includes the new 18,500-seat Sprint Center; the historic AMC Midland Theatre, which can seat as many as 3,000 people (and another 140 in its remodeled private banquet room); and KC Live!, an entire city block of event venues, the largest of which is a 25,000-sf covered outdoor area that can host between 100 and 8,000 attendees.
“The Power & Light District provides a new energy to our downtown,” Hughes said. “Planners can rent out a single venue or the entire district.”
The Power & Light District has approximately 2,000 hotel rooms within three blocks of the convention center, and there are 3,500 rooms within 10 blocks - almost all of which were recently renovated, according to Hughes. The largest hotel, the Kansas City Marriott Downtown - with 946 rooms and 37 suites - updated its guest rooms in 2007 and 2008 with new carpeting, bedding, and bathrooms. The renovations were made to keep pace with the downtown renaissance, which the hotel’s director of marketing, Cynthia Savage, said has helped both the city and the Marriott compete for new meetings business.
“What the Power & Light District has done for us is multifold,” Savage said. “Our business travelers love it because there’s so much for them to do now. For groups, it’s unbelievable because they can partner with the district to put on incredible events. I can’t even begin to tell you; it’s like we just turned on the light switch.”
And the light’s only getting brighter, both at the Marriott and in the district. The former will commence a massive lobby renovation later this year, according to Savage, while the district is scheduled to get a new performing arts center in 2010. Hughes is hoping a new 1,000-room convention center hotel will be approved; Kansas City’s city council recently completed a feasibility study.
According to the Power & Light District’s developer, Baltimore-based Cordish Co., more than 5.4 million guests have visited the area since its March 2008 grand opening. Ultimately, more than 8 million visitors per year are expected.