[ad_1]
MANATEE COUNTY, Fla. — A recently completed Manatee County project is expected to bring in up to $40 million a year to the local economy.
A two-year, $54 million improvement project at the Bradenton Area Convention Center significantly expanded the facility.
Business owners like James Schumacher hope the project brings an increase in foot traffic to his location.
“It’s all made in house,” he said of Papa’s Pizzeria, which he has owned and operated in Palmetto for two years. Everyone calls him Papa Jimmy.
“I like being around people,” Schumacher said. “I used to be in the mortgage business, and I used to be in the restaurant business years before that. And I like the restaurant business.”
Now his main goal is trying to grow his customer base and eventually expand his business. One possible path to seeing more people buy his pizzas is through an increase in foot traffic from events held at the Bradenton Area Convention Center, located less than two miles from the pizzeria.
The convention center just completed a capital improvement project, adding 30,000 square feet of space to the building, including a grand ballroom, breakout rooms, meeting rooms and other additions. (Spectrum News/Julia Hazel)
“From the gun shows to the Comic-Con and all these different things that they’ve got going on over there, they are popping in here,” he explained.
The convention center just completed a capital improvement project, adding 30,000 square feet of space to the building, including a grand ballroom, breakout rooms, meeting rooms and other additions.
Elliott Falcione, the executive director for the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, explained how this addition to the convention center will help.
The first event at the Bradenton Area Convention Center will be this Wednesday. It will host the Florida Sports Foundation Hall of Fame ceremony. (Spectrum News/Julia Hazel)
“We needed that second mass assembly room. That is needed to be able to bring in conventions to our community. So we’re at a 95,000-square-foot convention center. That is the biggest from Saint Petersburg to Naples,” he said.
He said the convention center is expected to significantly contribute to the local economy.
“(By) 2027 mid and beyond, this facility should be stimulating the economy by $30 to $40 million a year,” he said. “As you know, Bradenton and Palmetto are going through an extensive redevelopment process. You need assets like this to feed the small business community 12 months a year.”
The expanded convention center provides a new platform for the community — one that business owners hope will help them grow.
The first event at the Bradenton Area Convention Center will be this Wednesday. It will host the Florida Sports Foundation Hall of Fame ceremony.
[ad_2]
Julia Hazel
Source link