The Fredericksburg area's latest venue for trade shows and conferences could begin hosting events as early as this fall.
Construction on the Fredericksburg Expo and Conference Center at Celebrate Virginia, a massive concrete building visible from Fall Hill Avenue, is nearing completion.
The site could welcome "business and some smaller events" before year's end, said Tom Ballentine, president of Ballentine Management Group, the Allentown, Pa.-based firm that will operate the center.
A full schedule of events, including trade shows, business meetings and private gatherings, is expected to kick off around the first of next year.
" We are in the process of negotiating some things with groups that we wouldn't care to comment on at this point," Ballentine said. "We've received such a good response that for certain categories, we have a waiting list of four to five deep."
The expo center is part of the Celebrate Virginia retail and tourism project being developed along the banks of the Rappahannock River. The project's southern portion lies in the city of Fredericksburg; its northern part, which includes Cannon Ridge Golf Club, is in Stafford County.
The Silver Cos. of Fredericksburg, the project's developer, is still working to include aerial gondolas that will transport visitors back and forth across the river.
" We think we've got it worked out, but we're still working with people who operate them," said Jud Honaker, president of Silver's commercial division. "It's got to be run properly to be safe."
Also opening this fall is a Hilton Garden Inn, the first of four hotels planned for Celebrate Virginia's south side. It could begin welcoming guests in August, Honaker said.
The 149-room hotel is visible from Interstate 95, just north of the Bragg Hill Road overpass.
A Homewood Suites, also a Hilton brand, is slated to open in the fall of 2006. A Hampton Inn will open in 2007.
Celebrate Virginia South also is slated to include restaurants, shops, the U.S. National Slavery Museum and an entertainment district. The 150,000-square-foot district will be pedestrian-friendly, Honaker said.
Ballentine said the hotels and other offerings are good amenities for conference-goers.
" That's a huge asset to us," he said. "[Attendees] do need to take care of their business, but they also do need to have a little bit of fun."
The 116,000-square-foot venue will feature 80,000 square feet of exhibition space, a 15,000-square-foot conference center with 12 meeting rooms, and a 10,000-square-foot ballroom that can be subdivided. By comparison, the Target store in neighboring Central Park is now 121,000 square feet in area.
The Celebrate Virginia facility will offer full services such as catering for wedding receptions and other events.
Ballentine, whose group also manages the Dulles EXPO and Conference Center in Chantilly, said the site will host smaller-scale versions of what's held there.
"This facility is not de-signed to compete head-to-head with the Washington Convention Center or the Richmond Convention Center or the Dulles EXPO Center. It's a separate market," he said. "The amount of growth there will surely support smaller versions of what you see in those other markets."