Convention center leaders continue taking feedback and refining the expansion design, this time with local government officials.
The Capital Improvement Board marked one year of its first meeting Tuesday morning at the convention center with county council, commissioners, Mayor Kerry Thomson, and city council members.
Schmidt Associates CEO Principal Sarah Hempstead led with a schematic design update.
“The very next phase is design development, it is for exactly what it sounds like, it’s to continue to develop and iterate the design. We have a long way to go, but we have come a long way,” she said.
“We’re not done with construction documents until the end of July.”
The refined design includes more limestone, more public art, improved pedestrian scale entry and a simplified roof line.
The floor print of the main exhibit space was shifted southeast to create a bigger reception area on the north and west sides. That created more common meeting room spaces on the second floor including a roof garden — accessible outdoor green space with a view of downtown.
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Hempstead said they are working on making the bridge connecting the two buildings more appealing.
“I think the way to do that is to make the bridge replicate the window patterning here, making it a single elegant piece that takes you across the street, but also give you pause to take a look at the street to Bloomington,” she said.
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Architects are also working on incorporating the B-Line Trail through the west side of the existing building or through landscaping south of the hotel.
Solar panels are still possible, but not part of the current design. Hempstead said they’re worried about the weight on the long-span steel beam for the main hall as attendees will hang heavy objects from inside as well.
Hempstead said there are other places to accommodate unoccupied green space such as the roof overhang, kitchen roof or the existing building.
Parking came up again as no new parking structures are part of the project. Mayor Thomson said Fourth Street Garage will not be able to accommodate convention parking.
“As surface lots begin to get filled, I think we’re going to have to continue conversations about where are we putting cars and how do we get people to the convention center,” Thomson said.
The bond proposal to pay for the estimated $52 million project should come before city council during the first quarter of next year.
The next CIB public meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 9.
