FSU Convention Center News

 

Blueprint officials are weighing a motion to amend a previously adopted $40 million for a convention center at FSU to divert $10 million to restorations at FAMU's Bragg Stadium

— Karl Etters (@KarlEtters) September 17, 2020

Motion passes to divert $10 million from the FSU convention center to fund Bragg Stadium renovations

— Karl Etters (@KarlEtters) September 17, 2020

FSU Arena District, convention center could more than double to $53 million

The cost to build out the proposed Arena District, stretching from Florida State’s campus to downtown, could more than double and come with a price tag as high as $53 million for Leon County taxpayers.

The Blueprint Intergovernmental Agency will weigh whether to approve a $40 million bond issuance for everything from design to construction in October to begin carrying out FSU’s vision for a hotel and convention center district, to include the Donald Tucker Center and Turnbull Center, along Madison Street.

Tallahassee is the only capital city in the south without a convention center, but a market feasibility study by FSU completed in December found a “high” demand for conferences, banquets and social events that could be accommodated by the project.

FSU is already in line for a taxpayer-funded access road near the university's southern border that would direct passengers to campus from Tallahassee International Airport. The Airport Gateway Project, proposed in 2017 and approved in 2018, improves seven miles of roadway and adds 12 miles of new sidewalks, trails and bike lanes that connects the airport to fringes of FSU and Florida A&M universities.

In Sept. 2018, the IA Board, authorized the bond financing process of $20 million to start funding the Arena District this year though associated surtaxes. But FSU officials said they are unable to provide any supplemental funding for design and construction. 

Bragg Stadium, Fairgrounds, Canopy projects fill packed Blueprint meeting