The Riverside Convention Center is open to the public as of March 1. Ashley Dinkel | Banner
The newly renovated Riverside Convention Center opened its doors for the public to experience the new and revamped features within the city-owned facility March 1.
With renovation costs of $43 million, the convention center now features an upper-and lower-level that contains a main hall exceeding 30,000 square feet, numerous meeting rooms, a new kitchen and updated sound and lighting fixtures. The convention center also features the first escalator in a city-owned building in the history of the city of Riverside.
Scott Megna, general manager at the Riverside Convention Center, works for the Raincross Hospitality Corporation that was hired by the city of Riverside to run the Riverside Convention Center. He said the renovated center is a ground-up restoration.
“The entire north side of the center was expanded where the main hall was expanded by 10,000 square feet, and we now have two ballrooms while we previously only had one,” Megna said. “There are also seven independent meeting rooms along with a new kitchen and new executive, Brad Martin.”
Before working for the renovated convention center, Martin served as an executive chef for Provider Food Services at California Baptist University and was also featured on the ABC television show “The Taste.”
24-hour notice.
The facility features sound and lighting controlled by an iPad.
“The technology is first-rate and state-of-the-art,” Megna said. “(The convention center) is a complete rebirth of the facility that has reopened to over 90 events that are booked.”
Alejandro Gonzalez, junior psychology major, said he has thought about becoming an event planner because he enjoys planning family gatherings and organizing events with friends.
“I believe a lot of people will go to the convention center because a lot of our city’s events are hosted there,” Gonzalez said. “This renovation will bring many people to connect with the community.”
The symbol of Riverside, an array of rain-crosses, is presented on the plates of the light fixtures to show architectural designs of the city of Riverside.
Throughout the convention center are light fixtures and chandeliers that were created in Riverside.
“The experience of the center is more personal because local people have helped make our city’s convention center into a beautiful venue,” Gonzalez said.
The lighting inside the facility is mainly LED and has motion sensors that make the energy in the building more efficient than prior to the construction.
The convention center offers a larger space, but the building will operate more economically, which will help the city.,
The Riverside Convention Center is fully functioning and is located at 3657 Fifth St.
The technology in the convention center has also been updated.
Before the renovation, it was not cheap to get bandwidth in the building, but it is now more efficient and cheaper. The convention center runs 28 megabytes through the building. However, Megna said he can boost the power to 128 megabytes with a
notice.
The facility features over 500 data ports, 600 electrical outlets on independent circuits, and sound and lighting controlled by an iPad.
“The technology is first-rate and state of the art,” Megna said. “(The convention center) is a complete rebirth of the facility that has reopened to over 90 events that are booked.”
Alejandro Gonzalez, junior psychology major, said he has thought about becoming an event planner because he enjoys planning family gatherings and organizing events with friends.
“I believe a lot of people will go to the convention center because a lot of our cities events are hosted there,” Gonzalez said. “This renovation will bring many people to the convention center to connect with the community.”
The symbol of Riverside, an array of rain-crosses, is presented on the plates of the light fixtures to show architectural designs of the city of Riverside.
”You see that facilities overdo it with the iconic symbol, but (the convention center) chose to only do it on the upper concourse level so that it is subtle but more meaningful,” Megna said.
Throughout the convention center are light fixtures and chandeliers that were created in Riverside.
“The experience of the center is more personal because local people have helped make our city’s convention center into a beautiful venue,”Gonzalez said.
The lighting inside the facility is mainly LED and has motion sensors that make the energy in the building more efficient than before.“The convention center is bigger but will operate more economically,” Megna said.
The Riverside Convention Center is located at 3657 Fifth Street.
