The best and most user-friendly meeting and event space in the nation.
The Colorado Convention Center (CCC) is set for a major expansion that will make it a coveted meetings destination for future groups, but the building already has some stories to tell. Here's a little history and a timeline of the convention center as a meetings destination.
Since opening in 1990, the CCC has seen some exciting events.
It played a pivotal role for the media with both World Youth Day and the visit of Pope John Paul II in 1993, and with the Summit of the Eight in 1997 when 20 different broadcast booths were erected on the roof for live shots that were beamed around the world. Denver could not have hosted those events, nor the 2008 Democratic National Convention without the CCC. The CCC has hosted fan showcases for the MLB, NBA and NHL All-Star games and the NCAA Women's Final Four.
The building holds the Guinness World Record for the largest beer tasting ever held on the planet – the annual Great American Beer Festival. And the CCC also holds another Guinness record for the building's first expansion groundbreaking on April 29, 2002, when 1,217 people turned out, beating the previous record of 800 people at an Alabama hardware store groundbreaking.
Presidents, sports heroes, movie stars and rock stars from Elton John to Dolly Parton to Florence + the Machine have all appeared in the building, as have some of the world's most important scientists, researchers, educators and government officials.
1908
Denver Municipal Auditorium opens and hosts the Democratic National Convention. It is the second largest convention center in the nation, after Madison Square Garden in New York.
1909
The organization that will become VISIT DENVER is formed to attract conventions to Denver.
1969
Currigan Exhibition Hall opens with 100,000 sq. ft. of meeting space and a bridge connecting it to meeting rooms in the Auditorium Arena. Jack Benny performs at the opening gala.
1985
Voters defeat a proposal to build a convention center at Union Station
1987
Denver City Council allocates the funds to build the Colorado Convention Center
1990
The Colorado Convention Center opens, adjacent to Currigan Hall.
1999
Denver voters approve a plan to double the size of the convention center and tear down Currigan Hall.
2004
The Colorado Convention Center expansion opens with a light rail running through the center of what was Currigan Hall.
2005
The 1,100-room Hyatt Regency at the Colorado Convention Center opens.
2014
Two independent surveys of meeting planners rank the CCC as one of the top 10 convention centers in the nation.
2015
Denver voters overwhelmingly approve a major expansion of the Colorado Convention Center. The expansion will include many new features that will make the CCC the most high-tech, user-friendly meeting and event space in the nation.
2016
Masterplan for expansion is developed with customer input.
2017-2018
City hires project manager and architect.
2020
City hires a new project manager and selects a design/build team; Hensel Phelps and TVS Design and works with stakeholders to complete schematic design for the Colorado Convention Center expansion.
2021
Constructions begins June 2021 and a groundbreaking is planned.
