A $393 Million Renovation and More South New and Renovated News

 

Caribbean

Nestled on 15 tropical acres of Palm Beach’s widest stretch of white-sand beach, the Hilton Aruba Caribbean Resort & Casino announced a $100 million property-wide renovation that will include the addition of a new beachfront tower, new culinary concepts and upgrades to the existing towers’ guest rooms. The new tower will add 161 new hotel rooms, 18 suites and feature an exclusive adults-only rooftop club. 

The property has 60,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor meeting space, with the renovations including updates to its rooftop event space and outdoor bar and lounge. The largest venue on the property is the 8,100-square-foot Grand Morris Lapidus Ballroom, able to accommodate up to 900 attendees.

Florida

As part of the new Westcourt sports and entertainment district in downtown Orlando, Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, part of IHG Hotels & Resorts, announced it would be opening an 11-story, 261-room luxury hotel in the Westcourt development, its seventh Kimpton hotel in Florida. The hotel will feature over 16,000 square feet of indoor meeting space, a full-service restaurant and lobby bar, a cafe, pool bar and a pool lounge.

Westcourt is a 900,000-square-foot development adjacent to Orlando’s Kia Center and will feature 270 high-rise residences, 300,000 square feet of office space and 120,000 square feet of entertainment, dining and retail outlets. Construction is expected to begin later this year and the development is scheduled to open in early 2027.

[Related: The Newest Hotel Openings and Renovations Across Florida and Georgia]

Texas

After two years of vacancy, the historic Texas Annex building has begun a new life as the Le Méridien Fort Worth Downtown hotel. Opening in August, the property is part of the Marriott Bonvoy program and brings 188 guest rooms and over 5,000 square feet of meeting space to Fort Worth. 

The largest of the hotel’s six event venues is the Chisholm Trail Ballroom, able to accommodate up to 200 attendees in its 2,555 square feet of space. Other notable venues include the 579-square-foot Sundance room, 332-square-foot Longhorn Boardroom, a library and prefunction space. 

The property is also invested in the local art scene, with the building itself full of curated art pieces and the hotel participating Le Méridien’s Unlock Art program, which gives guests access to prominent Fort Worth art institutions like Amon Carter Museum and the Caravan of Dreams Art Studio.

The Austin Convention Center will be closing in 2025 for a four-year renovation project set to be completed in 2029. The renovations will include an expansion of the convention center to better accommodate the growth in event demand in the area and is estimated to bring an additional $285 million in yearly economic impact. 

The Austin Convention Center has historically served as the “home base” for the annual South by Southwest (SXSW) convention that occurs every March in Austin. While the city plans to close the convention center after SXSW’s 2025 conventions, no new venue for future SXSW events has been announced. But Visit Austin has confirmed that SXSW will stay in the Austin region during the timeframe of the renovations.

[Related: Austin Moving Forward With $1.6B Convention Center Expansion]

Despite the upcoming closure, there are still plenty of options for planners to host their events in Austin until the convention center reopens in 2029, including nine hotels in downtown Austin offering over 222,000 square feet of combined meeting and event space and 3,667 total hotel rooms and suites.

A $393 Million Renovation

The Kentucky Exposition Center, the sixth-largest convention center in the U.S., will receive a two-phase, $393 million renovation to its event spaces. 

Phase-one of the renovation is projected to cost $180 million and include a new interconnected 350,000-square-foot multipurpose building located east of the existing Broadbent Arena. The new space will include the center’s largest class A exhibit hall as well as meeting rooms and offices. 

The $213 million phase two will include a redevelopment of the West Wing, West Hall and Pavilion venues into a single, connected 249,000-square-foot multipurpose building that offers exhibit space, a large prefunction space and new meeting rooms. Phase two of the project will also include upgrades to the existing food and beverage operations of the center, creating a total of 40,000 square feet of space. 

Construction on the project’s first phase is set to begin in 2025.

The Kentucky Exposition Center is also redesigning and renovating two vehicle entrance gates with new amenities, digital wayfinding and payment technology. 

Read this next: Oceanfront Views, Landmark Hotels and More News From the South