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Davenport, Iowa—Citing the consistent revenue stream resulting from the VenuWorks team, the Davenport City Council voted to extend and expand the VenuWorks management contract with  the RiverCenter Complex in Davenport, Iowa. VenuWorks has managed this meetings & event space since 1998. The contract extension is for a five-year term and will continue through August 2015. “We are happy to continue our partnership with the City of Davenport and its excellent facilities,” said Steve Peters, President of VenuWorks.

The RiverCenter Complex, which features more than 100,000 square feet of meeting, exhibit and event space, includes the RiverCenter and the 2,411-seat Adler Theatre, an art-deco Movie Palace that is now a state-of-the-art Performing Arts Center. The RiverCenter includes the Great Hall, which seats 2,500-3,200, and the Mississippi River Hall, which hosts 1,100 -1,400.

Alan Guard, Finance Director for the City of Davenport, informed the City Council that with VenuWorks at the helm, the facilities generate between $15 million and $19 million in direct economic impact downtown annually. “That is a 17-to-1 return on investment,’ said Guard. “It makes sense to keep this team together.”

“We look forward to continuing and expanding our service to Davenport and Eastern Iowa,” added Peters.

Rick Palmer, Executive Director of the complex, was noted as being largely responsible of the complex as a leading reason behind the success of this Midwest venue. “Right now, the management of the RiverCenter and Adler is top notch,” said Bobbi Rogalski, Chair of the RiverCenter/Adler Advisory Committee, a City Council appointed board. “Rick (Palmer) is out there building relationships, and you can’t ask for more right now.”

According to an article that appeared in the Quad City Times, the contract extension was also supported by Joe Taylor, the President/CEO of the Davenport Convention & Visitors Bureau and by Amy and Amrit Gill of Restoration St. Louis, who are in the midst of a multi-million dollar renovation of the Blackhawk Hotel, which is connected to the RiverCenter. When the Blackhawk reopens (a fire closed the hotel in 2006), the venue’s Gold Room will be added to the RiverCenter’s selection of meeting spaces, enhancing Davenport’s draw as a convention destination.

“The convention business is largely based on long-term planning and relationship-building,” said Taylor. “I think it is wise to keep in place a management team that has done a good job.”

“I expressed our desire to continue with (VenuWorks), given that the Blackhawk will soon be opening and we’ve done a lot of coordinating with them,”added Amy Gill. “It doesn’t make sense to switch horses midstream. They bring us room nights. They have a team over there who understands what we’re trying to do.”

The new contract also expands the VenuWorks role at the facility. The company will now manage the food and beverage operations internally. Previously, all catering and concession services were outsourced to the nearby Radisson Quad-City Plaza.  VenuWorks has been expanding several of its management agreements to handle catering. VenuWorks venues that now feature VenuWorks catering operations include: the Alerus Center in Grand Forks, North Dakota, , the Three Rivers Convention Center, Toyota Center & Toyota Arena, a multi-purpose event & meeting complex in Kennewick, Washington,   the Swiftel Center in  Brookings, South Dakota, the Topeka Performing Arts Center in Topeka, Kansas, Hoyt Sherman Place in Des Moines, Iowa, and the  U.S. Cellular Center, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. VenuWorks will also manage F&B services for the Bemidji Regional Event Center, a multi-purpose facility scheduled to open in Bemidji, Minnesota in October, 2010.