With the development of Statehouse Plaza and its complex of meeting facilities and hotels, Little Rock has made a special effort to attract convention business. Situated along the Arkansas River, Statehouse Plaza is an eight-square-block area in downtown Little Rock that includes the Statehouse Convention Center and University Conference Center, Robinson Center, and several major hotels, including the Peabody, Capital, and Double Tree.
The Statehouse Convention Center features the Governor's Exhibition Hall, which has nearly 83,000 square feet of space that can be divided into four rooms or left as one large room. The Wally Allen Ballroom was created in a 1999 expansion that added more than 18,000 square feet of space. Other rooms are available for a variety of events. Atop the Center is the Peabody Little Rock Hotel, product of a $40 million reconstruction of the former Excelsior Hotel that was completed in January 2002. The Peabody has approximately 40,000 square feet of meeting and exhibit space, with an additional 19,000 square feet in the Peabody Conference Center.
Adjacent to the Statehouse Convention Center is the University Conference Center, which has 50,000 square feet of space, more than 13,000 square feet of which is designed specifically for meetings. Of additional interest are satellite down-links that allow for regional, national, or international teleconferences.
Down the street from these two facilities is the Robinson Center, which has a 14,867-square-foot exhibition hall that can hold 800 people in the main room, with additional exhibition space and seating in other exhibition and meeting rooms. Adjacent to this complex is the Doubletree Hotel, which emerged from a 1996 renovation of the former Camelot Hotel with 287 rooms and 13 suites.
Additional meeting rooms in the Statehouse Plaza area are available at the Arkansas Bar Center and the Old State House. Other area hotels and motels also provide meeting facilities for smaller groups.
Convention Information: Little Rock Convention & Visitors Bureau, Markham and Broadway, PO Box 3232, Little Rock, AR 72203; telephone (501)376-4781; toll-free 1-800-844-4781