AmericasMart Expansion Unfolds
By Home Accents Today Staff -- Gifts & Decorative Accessories, 8/16/2007 6:42:00 AM
Atlanta — AmericasMart is adding 1.5 million square feet of showroom and meeting space to its three-building campus in downtown Atlanta. Work on AmericasMart Building Two West Wing will take place in two phases, according to mart officials. The first phase, which is scheduled to open in July 2008, will add four levels of meeting and exhibit space, five floors of showrooms and three levels of basement operational space, including loading docks and kitchens. The second phase will add eight more floors of showroom space; the completion date has not been determined.
Mart officials said the grand opening for the new wing is scheduled to take place in January 2009, to coincide with the winter International Gift, Home Furnishings and Area Rug Markets.
“Building Two West Wing continues the vision that has powered our business for more than half a century,” said Jeffrey L. Portman, president and chief operating officer of AMC, AmericasMart’s parent company. “It captures the spirit, innovation and imagination that help make AmericasMart the destination for America’s markets of necessity.”
“The amount of business that AmericasMart brings to Atlanta makes them a key ingredient to the success of Atlanta’s convention industry,” said Mark Vaughan, executive vice president, chief sales and marketing officer for the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau. “Their current expansion will make sure that hospitality will remain a top economic driver in Atlanta for years to come.”
AmericasMart, founded in 1957, currently consists of 6.2 million square feet of exhibit space. An estimated 550,000 buyers and sellers attend the 23 shows held on the campus each year.
