by Jeanne Brei
Few cities have as much historical significance in the U.S. as Philadelphia and kudos to them for renovating a 100-year-old train station located in the heart of downtown to create the stunning Pennsylvania CC as well as incorporating one of the country’s oldest farmers markets (which actually predated the train station and moved indoors when the terminal opened in 1893) into the design.
The previous Convention Hall, built in 1930, had been an Art Deco landmark but became obsolete, and civic leaders decided in the 1980s that the former train shed of the Reading Terminal should be the site of a new convention center. After renovations were finished by Wilson Brothers & Company, it opened in 1993.
In December 2006, a $700 million plan was approved to expand the PCC west to Broad Street. The expansion, completed in March 2011, made the convention center more than 2 million square feet, with seven exhibit halls totaling 679,000 sq.ft. of exhibit space—and 528,000 sq.ft. of it is contiguous exhibit space. The PCC’s expansion and renovation achieved a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) certification. The expansion received a GOLD certification level under the LEED for new construction rating system.
In 2014, Philadelphia and the PCC ranked in the top ten U.S. cities for Green Meetings by GreenBiz. Greenbiz.com cited a number of factors at the PCC that led to its high ranking, including its LEED Gold certification; its use of 100 percent decomposable and biodegradable food and beverage products and Green Seal-certified cleaning products; its use of renewable energy; and energy-efficient lighting and other energy-saving initiatives.
The PCC also received the Global Biorisk Advisory Council (GBAC) STAR accreditation on outbreak prevention, response and recovery. Recognized as the gold standard of safe venues, the PCC is one of the largest venues in the northeast to receive the GBAC STAR™.
The PCC boasts more than 82 meeting rooms that can be set in banquet, classroom or theater seating and also has the largest ballroom in the Northeast, equivalent to the size of a football field. It also provides complimentary wireless internet access on all concourses, Grand Hall and in the Overlook Cafe.
Under the management of facility operator ASM Global, the PCC hosts nearly 250 events a year, including the Fancy Brigade Finale (part of the Mummers Parade) on January 1, the Philadelphia Auto Show in early February and the Philadelphia Flower Show—the “largest indoor flower show in the world”—attracting more than 250,000 people annually in early March.
This story originally appeared in the Nov./Dec. 2021 issue of Exhibit City News, p. 44. For original layout, visit https://issuu.com/exhibitcitynews/docs/ecn_nov-dec_2021
