Louisville, KY – A $180 million expansion of the Kentucky International Convention Center will be completed earlier than originally announced.
The Kentucky State Fair Board said February 9 that the project was still on target to begin in August 2016, but the target date for completion had been moved up to the Summer of 2018 rather than closer to the end of the year as had been the original estimate.
Clifford “Rip” Rippetoe, president and CEO of the fair board, said the reconfigured schedule would “keep this renovation on time and within budget, which is certainly a top priority.”
The board said state and city officials were working to relocate any events that would be affected by the construction calendar. The specific events were not identified.
The Kentucky International Convention Center currently has 191,000 square feet (sf) of prime exhibit space, placing it 73rd on the Trade Show Executive World’s Top Convention Centers (WTCC) rankings. Of that total, 146,000 sf of space is contiguous and column-free. The expansion will give the center more than 200,000 sf of contiguous space, all within the existing footprint.
Louisville is also home to the Kentucky Exposition Center, which is ranked sixth on the WTCC with 1.1 million sf of prime space, the same total as the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center.
Reach Rip Rippetoe at (502) 367-5100 or rrippetoe@ksfb.ky.gov
