The Detroit Regional Convention Facility Authority (DRCFA) unveiled a three-year, $221 million plan to reinvent Cobo Conference & Exhibition Center, Metro Detroit’s regional convention facility. The bond-financed project is the third phase of a multi-year strategic plan to return Cobo Center “to its historic role as one of North America’s premier meeting and convention venues,” DRCGA said in a press release.

The project will include the reinvention of Cobo Arena as a 40,000-square-foot ballroom with supporting meeting, pre-function and back-of-house spaces. This new ballroom will feature a glass wall and open-air terrace facing Hart Plaza and Detroit’s downtown to the east, as well as pre-function space with a panoramic view of the Detroit River and the international border with Canada to the south.

It will also create a new “signature space” for Cobo Center in the form of a three-story glass atrium that links the main floor with a new entrance facing the Detroit River, bringing the lower-level exhibition space more naturally into the flow of a meeting or convention and linking Cobo Center more fully to Detroit’s revitalized riverfront.

Significant renovation will take place on the building’s primary façade on the east side facing downtown Detroit. The primary element will be a high-tech “media mesh” that will function as a giant digital signboard welcoming conventions and guests to Detroit and the new Cobo Center. Additional elements include a new entrance to the recently developed food court, improved protection from the elements for arriving guests, and increased use of glass in exterior walls to tie events at Cobo Center more closely into the surrounding city.

The project will reconfigure most meeting and breakout room space throughout the venue, especially along the south side of the facility along the Detroit River. The majority of the exterior walls along the river will be replaced by high-efficiency glass walls to take advantage of Cobo’s riverside location.

In addition to these major updates to Cobo Center, many other significant changes will be made to improve customer experience, reduce customer costs, improve reliability, enhance safety and security, improve operational efficiency, save energy, reduce environmental impact and integrate Cobo Center better into the surrounding downtown. Among them are new communication systems, improved access control with three main entrance points, a 20 percent increase in parking spaces, more efficient environmental systems, enclosure of the loading dock, creation of an additional loading dock ramp to street level, finish upgrades including wall coverings and carpet throughout, and new CCTV and fire protection systems.

Work will begin immediately on Phase III activities, with construction planned around existing commitments at Cobo Center so as not to disrupt customer events or access. All major project elements are planned to be complete by the 2014 North American International Auto Show in January, with full project completion expected by December 2014. For more information, visit www.DRCFA.org.