BY GREGORY A. HALL
The Cincinnati Enquirer
COVINGTON -- As the Northern Kentucky Convention Center gets closer to securing its first national group, convention officials aren't worried about competition from the larger downtown Cincinnati center.
Comparison pricing between Kentucky and Ohio convention centers does not appear to be a factor, officials said. That's because of the difference in sizes of the Northern Kentucky Convention Center, expected to open this fall, and the Albert B. Sabin Convention Center, they said.
Sheree Allgood, spokeswoman for the Northern Kentucky Convention and Visitors Bureau, said last week that the center is close to announcing its first national group. She declined to name the association until the details are worked out.
The Northern Kentucky center offers 50,000 square feet of exhibit hall space; Sabin has about 160,000 square feet.
"From what we gather, we're looking for more mid-sized groups," Ms. Allgood said. "They're looking for the big fish. We're competing mostly with same-size markets and same-size centers."
Efforts are ongoing to get support for a $300 million expansion of the Sabin Center, which has lost some larger conventions in recent years because of limited space.
"We're hopeful that it becomes a symbiotic relationship," Ms. Allgood said.
Covington City Manager Greg Jarvis, a member of the Northern Kentucky center's board, said he hasn't heard anyone in Cincinnati afraid that the two won't help each other out.
"My experience has been that they've been very supportive of the project going back to the late '80s, when we first talked about the (Northern Kentucky) project," Mr. Jarvis said. "I think we all viewed it as a complementary facility to the Sabin Center." The Northern Kentucky center figures to retain smaller groups that might have skipped Sabin because it's too big, he said.
"By having our center over here," Mr. Jarvis said, "we'll be able to retain more of those for the regional economy."
