Conference center opens
Taxpayers inspect
city-owned center
The Eugene Conference Center threw its doors
wide open Saturday to the people who made it possi
ble — Eugene's taxpayers.
More than 1,000 Eugenians, just some of the
citizens whose tax dollars went to foot the $5.4 million
tab of the city-owned center, toured the quietly
elegant facility. The 16,300 square foot conference
center is part of a $34.2 million Civic Center that
includes the Eugene Hilton Hotel and the Eugene
Performing Arts Center, which is scheduled to open in
September
Visitors gorged themselves on cookies and fruit
punch at linen-covered tables in the Playwrights Hall
and the Composers Hall, which can be divided into
multiple rooms, named for the likes of John Steinbeck,
Tennessee Williams, Scott Joplin and John Phillips
Souza.
The opening was accorded all the usual fanfare,
with speeches and door prizes Later, under subtle
chandelier lighting, visitors danced on hardwood
floors to the sounds of the Oregon Jazz Lab Band 1.
Some, like children in a candy store, explored the
conference halls, admiring the muted blue and dusky
rose hues of the decor and inspecting the electronic
partitions that divide or expand a hall's size with the
press of a button.
But just because the center looks expensive
doesn't mean it cost an arm and a leg, says Angus
Anderson, the city’s business manager for the con
ference and performing arts centers.
"The city spent, not the extra bucks, but the extra two
or three pennies to make it look nice. And it’s still
going to look nice in three years."
Anderson says he hopes those extra pennies pay
off by drawing conference customers.
"What we're trying to do is get a good mix of local
and outside uses because outside uses bring the
dollars into Oregon,” he says. "And that’s the whole
reason for its (the center’s) being here — to bring in
new dollars."
That strategy appears to be working, Anderson
says.
The center’s books show about 500 events
scheduled so far for the remainder of the 1982 year,
and already more than 800 are planned for 1983, he
says.
The month of April is booked for 96 individual
events by 54 different users, and only three days are
left unscheduled, he says.
“So far we’ve been in use every day this month,”
Anderson says.
He estimates that every conference goer spends
an average $120 a day here. For the approximately
3,000 attendence days since the conference center
opened for business in March, that multiplies out to
$360,000, "which are dollars that wouldn’t have been
spent here otherwise," Anderson says.
Who are the center’s patrons?
Pacific Northwest Bell plans to hold a conference
here, and the Pacific Northwest Power Buyers, which
usually holds annual meetings in different locations
each year, decided to return to the Eugene center for
the next three years, he says.
"They passed up places like Portland. Seattle,
Spokane and Reno to come here,” Anderson says.
"So we are competitive.”
r/wM taxpayers, among 1,000 who attended Saturday’s gala public opening took advantage of free cookies, punch,
Jazz music and the sights of the $5.4 million convention canter.
I
A young Eugenlan chocks for hidden flaws In a new
sculpture on display at the Eugene Convention Center.
i
Next year, when the performing arts center is in
full swing, that competitiveness will be enhanced, he
adds.
While the center's business comes predominately
from the Pacific Northwest, it does draw some users
from outside that area, he says.
The prime example is Nike Corporation, which
plans to hold its annual meeting at the Eugene facility.
"That's a worldwide one (event)."
The kinds of uses vary from meetings and con
ferences to banquets and dances, but response
generally has been overwhelming, he says.
“We had three high school proms booked here on
the same night, but we said ‘Wait a minute — that’s too
much.’ So now, we’re just having two,” Anderson
says.
Concern that the conference center, which has a
maximum capacity of 2,000 people, will steal business
from the Lane County Convention Center is
unwarranted, he says.
“This was built to complement rather than com
pete with the convention center.”
The convention center, located at the Lane
County Fairgrounds, is suited for large conference
events, while the conference center is tailored for
smaller, more personalized meetings, Anderson says.
“You couldn’t bring a tractor in here,” he says, his
eyes sweeping the conference center. "But then
again, this is a much better place for a meeting of 25
people."
Story by Marian Graan
Photos by Erich Boakalhalda
Cultural Forum
Distinguished sociologist
Robert Bellah
i a
Author of
The Broken Covenant
itill speak on
“The New
Conservatism
in Politics and
Religion ”
8 p.m. EMU Ballroom
Monday, April 12th
FREE