HB 1454 – The B Square

Panorama of convention center looking to the southwest as seen in August of 2022.

Total food and beverage tax revenues by month since the 1-percent tax started getting collected.

Bloomington’s city council has set a work session for this Friday (April 5) at noon, to discuss a project that has been in the works for a few years—the renovation and expansion of the Monroe Convention Center.

The current convention center stands on the southwest corner of 3rd Street and College Avenue.

The work session will likely be closely watched by other elected and appointed officials, because the city council is not necessarily unanimous in its support of every aspect of the planned expansion.

At the end of February, councilmember Kate Rosenbarger voted against the interlocal agreement that lays out the working relationship between city government, county government, and the Monroe County capital improvement board (CIB). Continue reading “Monroe Convention Center expansion: Bloomington city council work session set for April 5” →

Board looks to potential fall 2026 opening of Monroe Convention Center expansion — The image links to the slide deck presentation to the CIB by Schmidt Associates on Dec. 13, 2023

The now hoped-for timeline for the opening of an expansion to the Monroe Convention Center is fall or winter of 2026.

That’s a takeaway from the third meeting of the capital improvement board (CIB) that was created by county commissioners in July.

Still pending is the ratification by Monroe County of an interlocal agreement that outlines how county government will work with the city of Bloomington on the Monroe Convention Center expansion.

But Wednesday’s meeting reinforced the impression left by CIB members when they met in October and November: They are not looking to dawdle in getting the convention center project back up and running, after it stalled out in March 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

Invited to give a presentation on Wednesday was a team from Schmidt Associates, led by Sarah Hempstead, which worked on the project four years ago before political wrangling led to a pause that was made longer by the pandemic.

Some key takeaways from the presentation include a hoped-for timeline that calls for occupancy of an expanded facility the fall or winter of 2026. Continue reading “Board looks to potential fall 2026 opening of Monroe Convention Center expansion” →