Austin: new airport, expanded center.

As the capital of Texas located in the middle of the state, Austin has always been a magnet for meetings. The city is growing so fast, including its convention business, that it has built a new airport and is already expanding a convention center that opened in 1992.

This month, the new Austin-Bergstrom International Airport opens only eight miles from downtown. The new airport, built on the site of the former Bergstrom Air Force base, features a passenger terminal that is double the size of the current facility at the undersized Mueller International Airport. The Austin-Bergstrom Airport opens with 25 operating gates (Mueller Airport has only 16), but it has the capacity to operate 55 gates.

The new airport also features dual runways to enable simultaneous arrivals and departures, including a longer runway to accommodate nonstop overseas flights for the first time ever in Austin. City planners also made sure its reputation as the Live Music Capital of the World was enhanced by including a performance stage for local musicians at the airport.

Austin's new airport isn't the only thing taking off around town these days, as witnessed by the $110 million bond package voters approved recently to fund a major expansion of the Austin Convention Center. The expansion project, scheduled for completion in fall 2001, includes building 130,000 additional square feet of exhibit space, a new 40,000-square-foot ballroom, and 35,000 square feet of new meeting space.

According to Austin Convention Center Executive Director Ric Luber, the expansion is necessary because the city has lost an estimated 240,000 room nights in the past few years due to lack of available space.

Currently, the center offers a 24,000-square-foot ballroom, 126,000 square feet of column-free exhibit space, and 29 meeting rooms. It also is regarded as one of the nation's most technologically advanced centers, allowing transmission of video, voice, or data from virtually anywhere in the event space. The exhibit hall also has floor pockets every 30 feet that contain fiber connections to the T1 Ethernet, ISDN line, satellite uplinking, category 3 voice lines, and cable television.

Austin's hotel inventory is growing along with its air service and exposition facilities. Twelve new hotels opened in 1998, while 21 new property developments are proposed for 1999. Among the most significant Austin hotel developments is the May reopening of the 74-year-old Stephen F. Austin hotel after a $20 million restoration.

Barton Creek Resort, located in the heart of Texas Hill Country outside downtown Austin, also is undergoing a $47 million expansion project that will be completed in spring 2000. It will add 138 guest rooms, a second championship golf course designed by Tom Fazio, and additional meeting space that will let the resort accommodate groups of up to 500 people.

With more than 100 live music venues for convention delegates to choose from, Austin's Live Music Capital distinction is not exaggerated. Music for every taste is everywhere in this hip city, especially in the 25 clubs along the Sixth Street entertainment district and in the Warehouse District just west of the central business district.