San Marcos Builds New Conference Center and Hotel
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There aren’t a lot of buildings in San Marcos that you can see from miles around. But that’s about to change.
The San Marcos Conference Center and an adjoining Embassy Suites Hotel, currently under construction, will soon be a popular new destination for conferences and conventions by late 2008.
“It’s such a great location. We’re located right between San Antonio and Austin,” says Ruth Buck, director of sales and marketing for the project. “There’s nothing else that tall around it, so it brings a lot of presence to the community.”
The $20 million, 78,000-square-foot conference center will include two ballrooms and a veranda, meeting rooms and a business center. The meeting space will accommodate conferences of up to 500 and 600 people, Buck says.
The $52 million hotel will feature 283 two-room suites, a restaurant with private dining rooms, a bar, a full-service salon and spa, a business center and an Internet café.
Along with bringing recognition to San Marcos, the new facility will also be a boon to the local economy. The project will create roughly 200 new jobs and will bring thousands of visitors to the community.
“From an economic development standpoint, any time you put a hotel of this magnitude into an area like San Marcos, then other businesses pop up around us, especially smaller hotels,” Buck says. “That will bring a lot of tax dollars into the community.”
The conference center has already booked the 2009 Hog Rally, which will bring between 5,000 and 10,000 Harley-Davidson riders to San Marcos.
The conference center and hotel will also become a regional focal point, Buck says.
“I think there’s an unlimited amount of opportunity,” she says.
Story by Michaela Jackson
Photo by Jesse Knish
