Detroit 2020 Exclusive: Inside Look At Cobo Center Renovations

December 08 2011 | no comments

Detroit 2020 got an inside look at the transformation taking place at Cobo Center.

Cobo Arena, once home to the Detroit Pistons and host to concerts and major events, will become the region’s premiere banquet and event space. It will have a hydraulic lift stage to allow for dramatic vehicle introductions rinsing from the floor below. Downtown Detroit is the backdrop through a giant glass wall and terrace. To the south will be panoramic views of the Detroit River and Windsor. On the lower level of the former Cobo Arena space will be additional meeting and breakout rooms for a variety of events.

A new atrium will provide Cobo Center with a new entrance along the riverfront, creating a flow into the lower-level exhibition space, which will add nearly 100,000 square feet of easily accessible prime show floor space to any major event.

Larry Alexander, chairman of the Detroit Regional Convention Facility Authority, said all of the renovations will complete by January 2015, in time for the 2015 North American International Auto Show.

“This will be an absolutely fabulous facility once it’s completed and I think everyone will be extremely proud of the work that has been done,” Alexander told Detroit 2020.

Already complete is the addition of 25,000 square feet of meeting space in Oakland and Wayne Hall. That new space will be part of this year’s Auto Show.

Click here to see the entire video of the Cobo Center renovation and expansion plan.