NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) – Many changes are taking place in and around the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in downtown New Orleans.

On Thursday, convention center officials toured the recently completed renovations to the wings of the convention center adjacent to the future River District neighborhood.

While the rest of the convention center still needs work to enhance its retro design, the new wings of the convention center boast new carpets, lettering and signage, lighting, audio and visual effects, furniture and new equipment.

The work is part of a $557 million capital improvement project approved in 2018.

“It’s truly a game-changer,” said Michael Sawaya, president and CEO of the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center.

The work also includes improvements in terms of sustainability: in the first phase of the project, 84 percent of all construction waste was diverted from landfill.

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“We are competing in a highly competitive industry,” Sawaya said. “Many locations have new hotels, new buildings and expansions. In our area, we haven’t had that. We have a building that was built in 1984, the last expansion was in 1999. So our goal is to transform what is already the sixth largest convention center in the country.”

On a site where car traffic used to run in front of the congress center, around 30,000 square meters were converted into a pedestrian park.

“We renovated about 60 conference rooms and updated lighting, equipment, technology and wayfinding, which are important things,” Sawaya added. “The font of the room numbers was changed to give them a more modern look and feel. The public areas naturally match that, the aesthetic.”

In addition to the work within the convention center, the surrounding area is also changing as work begins on the river district.

The River District is a 39-acre mixed-use development adjacent to the convention center and offers housing, retail, dining and entertainment in the form of a Topgolf facility.

Infrastructure work, such as laying sewerage and drainage pipes, began in the river district in June.

The groundbreaking ceremony for the Topgolf site on the other side of Tchoupitoulas between Melpomene and Euterpe streets is expected to take place soon.

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