Orange County Convention Center

 The Orange County Convention Center is a convention center located in Orlando, Florida. Opened in 1983 as the Orange County Convention and Civic Center, it is the primary public convention center for the Central Florida region and the second-largest convention center in the United States, after McCormick Place in Chicago.

The OCCC offers 7,000,000 sq ft (650,000 m2) of space, 2,100,000 sq ft (200,000 m2) of which is exhibit space. The complex is located on the south end of International Drive, a major tourist area in Orlando.

The original building (the "West Concourse") housed an 11,300-seat arena from 1983 to 1992. It hosted concerts by popular artists including Madonna, Tina Turner, Whitney Houston, Styx, Aerosmith, Mötley Crüe, and Hall and Oates. Its use declined after the Orlando Arena opened in 1989. The arena closed in 1992 and was renovated and converted into the main exhibition hall in 1996.

On April 18, 2012, the American Institute of Architects's Florida Chapter placed the building on its list of "Florida Architecture: 100 Years. 100 Places".

Solar panels on the roof of the South Concourse provide 1 MW of power.

The Orange County Convention and Civic Center (OCCCC) was born out of a 1977 law passed by Florida's State Legislature. The law permit counties to collect a "Tourist Development Tax" on top of regular sales tax on hotel room stays, with the approval of the county's voters, for state-approved purposes. In a special election in April 1978, the voters of Orange County approved a 2% Tourist Development Tax (the limit set by the state) to build a convention and civic center. That August, the Orange County Board of County Commissioners (BCC) approved a location for the OCCCC in Orlando Central Park, on International Drive, and drew up plans for a 325,000 sq ft (30,200 m2) gross area facility. The following year, BCC and Orlando Central Park agreed to give OCP one cent per taxed dollar of the Tourist Development Tax (TDT) each year for 30 years; in return, OCP would donate land for the initial facility, give the county an option to buy another 45 acres (18 ha) for future expansion, and commit adjacent lands for hotel and tourist development.

Phase I was completed on February 25, 1983, at a cost of $54 million. The Boston Pops Orchestra played at the grand opening on February 26, 1983, and 14,000 people attended the open house on February 27, 1983.

In June 1984, the BCC exercised its 45-acre (18 ha) option for $2 million and began planning Phase II. The TDT was raised to 3% by a state law in 1986, and groundbreaking occurred in February 1987 on Phase II. It was completed in January 1989, adding 150,000 sq ft (14,000 m2) of exhibition space to increase it to 344,790 sq ft (32,032 m2) of total exhibition space, and adding 100,000 sq ft (9,300 m2) of meeting and support space.

That same month, an additional 1% was permitted for the TDT, increasing it to 4%. The BCC approved an additional three phases to the OCCCC (Phases IIA, III and IV), and improvements to the Citrus Bowl, its first non-Convention Center TDT project.

Phase IIA, completed in December 1990, added 100,000 sq ft (9,300 m2) more support space, used largely for office space and registration. The next month, planning for Phase III was begun. By December 1992, "Civic" was dropped from the name, and the facility became the Orange County Convention Center.

Phase III was completed in January 1996, adding 383,400 sq ft (35,620 m2) of exhibition space, at a cost of $219.5 million. Phase IV followed that August at a cost of $198.7 million, adding another 367,200 sq ft (34,110 m2) of exhibition space and about 100,000 sq ft (9,300 m2) more meeting space. A retrofit of Phase I, completed in December 1997 at a cost of $32 million, opened up 8,200 sq ft (760 m2) more. By 1998, the OCCC had 1,103,538 sq ft (102,522.0 m2) of exhibition space over a total building space of over 4 million ft².

In June 1998, the BCC got a fifth cent approved for the TDT, partly for a grand Phase V, which would add a total of 3 million ft² of space to the OCCC. That December, they paid Universal Orlando Resort $69 million for 239 acres (97 ha) of land across International Drive from the original OCCC. The Martinez Convention Center Commission, named after then-Orange County chairman Mel Martinez, was created to oversee planning and construction of Phase V.

Here is a local Business that supports the community 

 

Google Map- 

 

6900 Tavistock Lakes Blvd #400, Orlando, FL 32827

Be sure to check out this attraction too!