ART CREDIT

innovative centers & unique venues

San Jose Making meetings easier

Downtown San Jose’s revitalization efforts culminate this fall with the unveiling of the bigger, better San Jose Convention Center. In September 2013, the center will complete a $130-million expansion and renovation, add- ing 125,000 square feet of flexible ballroom and meeting space to the existing 425,000 square feet — bringing the total to 550,000 square feet of usable space for meetings, conventions, and events. A revamped lobby and event spaces will welcome visitors with beautiful, bright California colors and styles including reclaimed redwood ceilings, a new, open plaza entrance for networking, and an outdoor event space facing downtown San Jose. The center offers a modern, high-tech feel — with the state-of-the-art Silicon Valley infrastructure to back it up. What happens when you combine Team

San Jose’s pioneering one-stop service with this exciting, easy-to-manage destination? You get 98 percent of clients who were sur- veyed saying they’d return. Instead of hand- ing planners off to other organizations once they book the meeting, Team San Jose (TSJ) does it all — from housing, convention-center and facility-event services, and customized food-and-beverage menus to permits, mar- keting support, and savvy special events. In addition to managing the San Jose

Convention Center, TSJ operates a collec- tion of stunning theaters boasting some of the region’s top entertainment — all within a short stroll from the convention center. Any of these unique venues can enhance a meeting:

• Built in 1934, the 3,036-seat San Jose Civic — which was recently revamped while retaining its classic Spanish mission–style architecture — has been at the core of San Jose’s cultural activity and traditions.

• The new kid on the block at 40 years old, the 2,677-seat elegant Center for the

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Easy access With 8,900 hotel rooms citywide (5,400 of which are just a short walk or light-rail ride away from the San

Jose Convention Center), and a down- town located just five minutes from the San Jose International Airport (SJC), it’s easy to see why San Jose is an attractive choice for meeting planners.

Civic duty The San

Jose Civic is just one of the many venues available for concerts and other special events, some of which are customiz- able to suit planners’ needs.

Performing Arts (CPA) was designed by the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation.

• The 1,122-seat California Theatre is known today as one of the best- preserved examples of late 1920s motion-picture houses in the United States.

• Built in 1936, the 475-seat Montgomery Theater retains its historic charm and offers audiences an intimate experience for every performance or general session.

San Jose offers many other unique alterna- tive venues, such as the Tech Museum, San Jose Museum of Art, Institute of Contem- porary Art, and world-famous Winchester Mystery House.

For more information: Team San Jose — Mark McMinn, Director of Sales; (800-SAN-JOSE); mmcminn@sanjose.org; sanjose.org

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