The Tampa Convention Center is nominated for two Urban Excellence Awards from the Tampa Downtown Partnership, following an award-winning year for the center in 2023. The awards celebrate organizations, projects, and events that have contributed toward creating a unique, vibrant, and diverse environment in downtown Tampa.
The center is nominated for the Public Sector Project Award for its Capital Improvements Project, which was completed in June 2023. This award recognizes a project that has made a positive and significant contribution to Downtown Tampa and has demonstrated a strong impact in revitalizing the downtown area.
The $44.5 million Capital Improvements Project represents the largest renovation project in the history of the Tampa Convention Center, which opened in 1990. It included an expansion with 18 new waterfront meeting rooms, upgrades to the center’s Ballrooms, existing meeting rooms, restrooms, and concession stands, along with updated lighting, paint, and carpet throughout the building. The center also improved its outdoor event space on the Tampa Riverwalk.
The Tampa Convention Center is also nominated for the Activating Spaces Award, which recognizes a person, organization, business, project or initiative that has made a positive and significant contribution to a Downtown space. The center is nominated for hosting a live broadcast for ESPN’s First Take. The event was held on January 16, 2023, putting the center and the city of Tampa in the national spotlight. Hundreds of fans attended the broadcast, which featured special guests including Bucs great Derrick Brooks, former Bucs and Cowboys player Keyshawn Johnson, Hollywood producer Will Packer, and former Cowboys receiver Michael Irvin.
The center is also being considered for the 2024 People’s Choice Award, which includes all Urban Excellence Award finalists. The public can vote for the Tampa Convention Center online.
Winners will be announced during an event on February 21. They will be selected by an awards jury representing a cross-section of Downtown Tampa constituencies.
This comes after the Tampa Convention Center won multiple national awards in 2023. It was named Best Convention Center in the Southeast U.S. in The Stella Awards by Northstar Meetings Group, one of 20 Centers of Excellence by Exhibitor Magazine, a winner in the 2023 Readers’ Choice Awards by ConventionSouth, and a Top Meeting Destination by Cvent.
Located in the heart of downtown Tampa, the Tampa Convention Center offers sparkling waterfront views of the Garrison Channel which connects to the Hillsborough River, 600,000 square feet of transformable event spaces, and state-of-the-art amenities. The Tampa Convention Center provides premier venue rental services for event and meeting planners. The facility has achieved 2024 Global Biorisk Advisory CouncilTM (GBAC) STAR™ accreditation for cleaning, disinfection, and infection prevention. The Tampa Convention Center is set to host 98 events in 2024, which are expected to bring an estimated economic impact of nearly $136 million dollars and more than 354,000 attendees to the city of Tampa.
The Tampa Convention Center partners with several companies to provide high-quality event services to exhibitors, including Aramark for food and beverage, Edlen for utilities, Encore for audio visual and rigging, Sentry Event Services for security, Smart City for Internet and telecommunications, and The UPS Store for shipping, printing, branding, and signs.
