Brown County Supervisors passed a measure to expand the KI Convention Center with a 23-1 vote at March’s County Supervisors meeting. The next step in the process will be City of Green Bay Common Council approval. Their next meeting is in April.
Already a first class venue that hosts more than a quarter of a million visitors annually, local officials from the city, county and visitors bureau are working diligently to fund a $20 million expansion of the facility. With plans to expand to almost three times the current size, the development is projected to add an additional 70,000 visitors, 25 million dollars in annual economic impact and 450 jobs to downtown Green Bay.
Financing of the project was developed with Brown County municipalities agreeing to a 2% increase in hotel taxes. The additional funds would be used to pay down debt of municipal bonds; which the City of Green Bay intends to issue in the summer of 2012. The yearlong construction project would begin in the winter of 2013.
