Business View Magazine - Nov 2023

212 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 10, ISSUE 11 venues, museums, shops, restaurants, and nightlife. Since opening its doors in 2017, the ACC has generated more than $77 million in total new visitor spending. It has hosted more than 900 events and conferences, attracted over half a million visitors to downtown Albany, and generated in excess of 112,000 hotel room nights. The ACC was designed, developed, financed, and constructed by the Albany Convention Center Authority (ACCA), established in 2004 by the New York State Legislature, and is responsible for the facility’s ongoing administration, operations, management, and maintenance. Surviving the pandemic “Covid hit us for two years,” recounts ACC General Manager Shannon Licygiewicz. “While it certainly was devastating for the hospitality industry, and our building was not alone in that, we kept our doors open with the help of the Albany Convention Center Authority. They allowed us to keep our employees, which was crucial, and we’re very thankful for the Authority’s support there.”