America's Center Convention Complex
The history
The long grey hall on Washington Avenue between Seventh and Ninth, opened in 1977 as the Cervantes Convention Center for Mayor Alfonso J. Cervantes and renamed America's Center after the 1993 expansion that added the Dome — 67,000 seats, home of the Rams from 1995 until they went back to Los Angeles in 2016. It is the largest convention floor in Missouri, and for a city that had hosted a World's Fair it was the deliberate late-century answer to the same question: give the country a reason to come here. The lawn out front is new. The $240 million AC Next Gen expansion finished in early 2024 gave the Washington Avenue side a fresh entrance with a modern canopy and LED lighting, a new west lobby and concourse, and an 80,000 square foot park by Arbolope Studio — tiered amphitheatre benches, native plantings and picnic ground, meant for the people who live and work here rather than only for delegates. The Marriott St. Louis Grand, the old 1917 Statler Hotel, stands behind it. I photographed this one without knowing what it was and could not place it afterwards; Max ran it past Grok, which named it, and the AC Next Gen drawings confirm the canopy and the lawn.
In brief
America's Center Convention Complex is the convention centre of St. Louis, Missouri, at 701 Convention Plaza. It opened in 1977 as the Cervantes Convention Center, named for Mayor Alfonso J. Cervantes, and was renamed after the 1993 expansion that added the adjoining domed stadium — home of the St. Louis Rams from 1995 to 2015. The complex holds the largest exhibition floor in the state. A $240 million expansion known as AC Next Gen, completed in early 2024, added a new west lobby and concourse, rebuilt the Washington Avenue entrance with a modern canopy and LED lighting, and laid out an 80,000-square-foot public park in front of it.
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