Rio Nuevo Board approves more than $4M in upgrades for Tucson Convention Center

More than $4 million in upgrades have been approved for the Tucson Convention Center.

The Rio Nuevo Board this week approved the expenditures, which include:

• $3.4 million in renovations to meeting rooms and the creation of a high-tech boardroom.
• $499,000 for the design of a 25,000-square-foot expansion that will add 18,000 square feet of meeting rooms adjacent to the exhibition hall. Construction is scheduled to begin after the 2021 Gem and Mineral Show.
• $37,000 to retain an expert to evaluate the existing computer, communication and audio/visual systems and to recommend upgrades.
• A $115,000 initial site development design package to evaluate the TCC grounds for code compliance and suggested upgrades to bring lighting, landscaping, walkways and accessibility features into code compliance.

The TCC is the centerpiece of the board’s mission and, since its reorganization 10 years ago, members have focused spending on fixing up the convention center. The spending is the next step following the board’s August meeting, when it approved a $65 million overall renovation plan for the TCC.

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Projects already complete at the site include the arena ice floor and ice plant, which brought in a hockey and indoor football team.

A convention hotel is under construction on the west side of the TCC and Rio Nuevo has committed to building a parking garage.

Detailed expenditures by the board can be found at rionuevo.org by clicking on “projects.”