Business View Magazine | June 2019

61 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE JUNE 2019 Overland Park CONVENTION CENTER THE VENUE THAT SAYS “YES” T he Overland Park Convention Center, which opened in November 2002, is owned by the AAA-bond-rated city of Overland Park, the largest suburb of Kansas City, a very corporate-dense and very well-off suburb. The Center cost about $46 million to build, has a footprint of about 237,000 sq. ft., and is connected to a 412-room Sheraton Hotel. One of the most successful convention centers in the country, the Center will do over $13 million in revenue this year, in a venue that has about 100,000 sq. ft. of event space. It has had an operating surplus every year, with the exception of the year it opened, and that operating surplus is then used to fund future capital projects. It has been voted the best meeting facility in Kansas City, 16 years in a row. General Manager, Brett C. Mitchell, recalls how the Center rethought its security options in reaction to the events of 9/11, which occurred during the construction process. “The city stepped in and decided to enhance our security focus,” he says. “We were the first convention center that had