convention center

Over the past year, I’ve spent quite a lot of time writing about Rocky Mount’s ill-conceived event center, so when I received an invitation to a discussion about economic…

In 2012, Rocky Mount started discussing plans for a downtown event center.  The plans were controversial, with supporters adamant that the project would bring much-needed economic revitalization to the area,…

Click here to view and here to listen to Dr. Michael Sanera discussing this Regional Brief. RALEIGH — The Raleigh Convention Center continues to rely on deep discounts…

This report examines 52 contracts signed by the Raleigh Convention Center for the period of July–December 2011 and is a follow-up to the September 2008 John Locke Foundation report “The New Raleigh Convention Center: A taxpayer-funded money pit.”

RALEIGH — Raleigh’s new downtown convention center already has offered almost $2.3 million in room rental discounts to secure convention business, including an average 58 percent discount for events scheduled…

Although many Raleigh and Wake County taxpayers do not realize it, city and county officials knew from the beginning that the new Raleigh Convention Center would require taxpayers to pay for large operational losses and even pay large subsidies to organizations to use the facility. Even before the doors open on September 5, the losses and subsidies have begun to mount.

RALEIGH – Two N.C. cities could save taxpayers from millions of dollars in unnecessary spending, by slamming the door on new convention center projects. That’s the key recommendation in a…

A careful review of experiences in Raleigh and Charlotte should warn other North Carolina cities that convention and civic center projects are a bad idea.