The Phoenix Convention Center's massive North Building is less than a year away from the finish line.

The building is expected to be complete in December and will open to conventions in January 2009.

The North Building, which sits on Third Street between Monroe and Washington streets, is a key part of the $600 million expansion of the Convention Center complex.

Officials say that the supersize Convention Center complex will help Phoenix lure larger, more lucrative conventions.

The North Building will be three times the size of the West Building, which opened in 2006.

Before the expansion, Phoenix could host only 125,000 convention attendees a year at the convention complex, Mayor Phil Gordon said Monday at a topping-out ceremony for the building. When the North Building begins hosting events in January 2009, Phoenix will be able to draw 325,000 conventioneers annually, he said.

It's also providing jobs - more than 9,000 so far, Phoenix officials say.

"This is more than glass and steel and stone," Gordon said. "People put their heart and soul into this building."

The North Building, which takes up a whole city block, has 635,000 square feet of event space, a 45,000-square-foot ballroom on its street level, a food court with five themed eateries and 56 meeting rooms, said Lexie Van Haren, a Convention Center spokeswoman.

The building has used 55,000 cubic yards of concrete and 40 miles of piping for plumbing, said Tim Smith, the project executive for Hunt-Russell-Alvarado, the consortium of construction companies that's building the project.

The group includes Hunt Construction Group, which is based in Scottsdale, H.J. Russell & Co., which is based in Atlanta and Alvarado Construction Inc., which is based in Denver.

A month after the Convention Center opens, it will host events for the 2009 NBA All-Star Game. The game will be held in US Airways Center in February 2009.

The All-Star game is expected to draw 600 million television viewers in more than 200 countries,Phoenix officials say.


Author: Jahna Berry
Source: The Arizona Republic