HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Connecticut is near the bottom of the list when it comes to convention and exhibition space. Officials say only three states have less — Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. But convention center plans are blossoming this spring in Hartford and on the Mohegan Indian reservation in eastern Connecticut and one man is involved in both plans.
Len Wolman, chairman of the Waterford Group, which builds and manages hotels and gaming enterprises, is helping the Mohegans develop their convention center. This week, he submitted a proposal to build the hotel-convention center and retail components of the planned Adriaen’s Landing revitalization project in Hartford, the site that until recently also included a stadium that would accommodate the New England Patriots football team. A stadium may yet be built, but unless the team’s principal owner Bob Kraft and the National Football League change their minds, it will be smaller than the one planned for the Patriots and will be used instead by the University of Connecticut for its football team which plans to upgrade its program to Division 1A. The Patriots have announced they plan to remain in Foxboro where a new stadium will be built.
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“Hartford and Mohegan Sun are completely different markets,” Wolman told The Hartford Courant. ” A lot of convention business will not go to the casino.”
H. Scott Phelps, president of the Greater Hartford Convention and Visitors Bureau echoed Wolman’s assessment.
“Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods will attract their fair share of state and regional business,” Phelps said. “National business, on the other hand, is where I believe Hartford would have its strengths, because I would estimate that over 70 percent of national associations would steer clear of casino gambling for their convention.”
The Mohegans have raised $500 million in Wall Street financing for construction of a 37-story hotel and convention center that is expected to open in 2002. In Hartford, political and business leaders have been talking about building a convention center for almost 20 years.
Should a convention center be included in the Adriaen’s Landing project, Connecticut would have two new hotel-convention centers by 2003.
