Savannah Convention Center

6 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 9, ISSUE 3 Overall, the expansion has had very little impact on the daily operations of SCC, with an open space being utilized to replace one impacted meeting room. “We are continuing to host every event with very little interruption other than to our parking lot,” reports Spinks. On the sustainability side, the expansion was designed with attention to maintaining the center’s current Gold LEED certification, and although electric vehicle charging stations were not part of the original parking lot design, Spinks believes it is inevitable that they will be added. As part of Chatham County, SCC has long term relationships with all of the municipalities within the county. Smith describes the evolution of the convention center, which was first conceived by the Savannah Chamber of Commerce, noting, “The Chamber brought the project forward back in the early ‘90s, as a goal for the community. Chatham County was the governmental entity that took ownership of the project and executed on the design and construction, and then every municipality within the county is also a partner, in that they collect a hotel/motel tax that supports the institution.” The State of Georgia has also been a partner since the beginning, initially providing an $18 million grant for phase one. Smith adds, “The state has become even more of a partner because they’re funding phase two entirely. So, there’s a tremendous amount of local investment, augmented by a tremendous amount of state investment. We are approaching half a billion dollars in capital investment in the building to date, and it’s about two-third state and one-third local. Visit Savannah, a division of the Savannah Chamber of Commerce and the official marketing organization for the Greater Savannah area, is a close partner with SCC, connecting potential customers to the convention center, as well as local accommodations and attractions. Ungerboeck, a booking system designed SAVANNAH CONVENT ION CENTER