CINCINNATI — Local convention centers are adding space to capitalize on Duke Energy Convention Center shutting down for 18 months.
Duke Energy will undergo a $200 million renovation that is scheduled to start this year. In the meantime, Hard Rock Casino Cincinnati spent $1.45 million renovating their space to host more events.
“[It’s an] opportunity for us to actually be a part of that and help out the city, taking some of that business and to keep obviously that economic engine going within the city,” said President of Hard Rock Cincinnati Justin Wyborn.
They enhanced their audio system, got new carpet and focused on some of the finer details like glassware. Hard Rock will have over 50,000 square feet of space to host events.
This week, the Sharonville Convention Center unveiled its new 40,000-square-foot space.
“It should really serve us well as the Duke Energy Center begins to prepare to close here July 1,” said Jim Downton, executive director of the Sharonville Convention Center.
Downton said Sharonville started to talk about expansion in 2015. It was supposed to open in 2022, but the COVID pandemic pushed their timeline back. He said the new space will allow them to hold more community galas.
“We expect to double our economic impact and go from $15 million annually to about $27 million annually and to almost double our market share,” Downton said.
He said with Duke Energy closing, they’ll likely double their economic impact in about three years. All of the convention centers, he said, are working together to keep business in Hamilton County while Duke Energy is out of commission.
“Today, we just booked the NAACP Freedom Fund dinner for 2025,” Downton said.
Additionally, Downton said they also will be hosting the Cincinnati Comic Expo. He said he hopes some of them will continue to come.
“We think that we will have many of the customers decide to stay with us in the future,” he said.
When the Duke Energy Convention Center closes in a few months, some are worried about what it will mean for the businesses downtown. Resident Brian Boland said it seems like a lot of businesses are already struggling due to the changes downtown Cincinnati has already undergone.
“To have another big generator of people and money coming into downtown suddenly be taken off the plate as it were for 18 months, it’s going to have a huge impact on them as well, and at a time when they’re already trying to work hard to make ends meet,” Boland said.
Boland also works for Bridge Forward, a citizen-led group advocating for a progressive bridge design.
“It was always one of the big goals of our group to create space on the western side of downtown for something like a convention center expansion,” he said.
He’s hopeful the new downtown convention center won’t cut off people from the west side, so they too can have access to the opportunities a new convention center will bring.
