by Emily Olson
The Atlantic City Convention Center is located at 1 Convention Boulevard, just a short drive away from close to one-third of the United States’ population and 20 percent of the business addresses in the US. Its central location to so many people and businesses makes it a natural and convenient draw for conventioneers.
The convention center occupies nearly 31 acres, making it one of the biggest convention centers on the East Coast. It boasts 500,000 contiguous square feet of meeting space, five exhibit halls and 45 meeting rooms that surround the convention center’s atrium lobby, which is flooded with sunshine that pours through its 90-foot-high skylights.
The convention center opened in the spring of 1997, and it was part of Atlantic City’s gateway redevelopment project. The building, which cost $268 million to construct, was designed by the city planning firm Wallace, Roberts and Todd. The building planners incorporated elements of the building’s surroundings into its design; the carpets have a wave design that brings to mind the nearby beach.
Attached to the convention center is the Sheraton Hotel, which was part of the building’s original design. A beautiful urban garden is nestled between the two buildings, where a bronze statue of Bert Parks can be found.
Bert Parks hosted the Miss America Pageant, which took place in Atlantic City, from 1955 to 1979. Each televised iteration of the pageant ended with Parks singing “There She Is, Miss America.” The statue of him near the convention center is interactive. It holds a crown, and if a visitor places their head within the crown, the song will play from speakers hidden in nearby bushes, giving park visitors the royal treatment.
