96 Business View Magazine - September 2016
The Rhode Island Convention Center
The ocean state’s premier convention complex
Located in the heart of downtown Providence, and
managed by SMG, the worldwide entertainment and
convention venue management company, the Rhode
Island Convention Center (RICC) is a multi-purpose
facility that houses conventions, trade and consumer
shows, exhibits, receptions, banquets, meetings, con-
certs, and sporting events. According to it Executive
Director, James P. McCarvill, the RICC was founded
by the state’s Convention Center Authority on a site
next to the 12,000-seat Providence Civic Center, now
known as the Dunkin’ Donuts Center, or more affec-
tionately, “The Dunk.”
When first conceived, the Authority’s master plan in-
cluded a large parking facility that would support a
new Center and a hotel that would serve as a head-
quarter hotel for the new facility. “But the market at
the time wasn’t great for hotel development and since
the destination really didn’t have a whole lot of con-
vention and trade show history, it was hard to get a
