Plaza Convention Center closing
Loss of facility leaves void in local event venue options
Longmont’s Plaza Convention Center — which has provided space for local organizations’ events and celebrations since 1983 — will no longer be a convention center come October.
Owner Chernoff Boulder Properties LLC was leasing the 37,000squarefoot convention center to Shamin Hotels, which bought the adjacent Best Western Plus Plaza Hotel in February.
Shamin terminated the lease on the building in May, effective this month, Chernoff Boulder Proper ties CEO Seth Chernoff said. His group bought the building and the adjacent office park on Industrial Circle in 2016.
Calls to Shamin, based in Virginia, went unanswered.
Chernoff said it is a shame the convention center will close. He said his company has been receiving alarmed calls from people who regularly book the space for large gatherings, but he could not find an operator for it.
“We’re disappointed. We’re bummed. When you lose a convention center in a city like Longmont, it’s hard to get it back,” Chernoff said. “We were asked if we want to run it. The phone was ringing off the hook with people wanting events there, but we’re not operators. We just buy the real estate and fix it up.”
Eric Hozempa, executive director of the Longmont Community Foundation, echoed Chernoff’s sentiments about the closing of the longrunning convention space.
The Foundation held its annual awards breakfast at the Plaza Convention Center.
“We were told through the rumor mill that they weren’t scheduling anything beyond October,”
Hozempa said. “A lot of organizations are really going to miss it. It’s the only venue that can accommodate 400 to 500 people.”
The Community Foundation also holds smaller events at the Xilinx Retreat Center, which can accommodate 180 people. The Longmont Museum’s Stewart Auditorium can only hold 240 people and the Dbarn on Main Street holds 200 people. Only the Vance Brand Auditorium at Skyline High School can accommodate more, with a capacity of 1,350 people.
Hozempa said he and other leaders of Longmont nonprofits and community groups often joked the Plaza Convention Center needed a facelift.
“We always said it could be nicer, but it will be very different when it’s gone,” Hozempa said.
Chernoff said Flatirons Community Church will lease the Plaza Convention Center space starting Oct. 1. Flatirons, the Lafayettebased megachurch, began holding Sunday services at the Plaza Convention Center in January as a “portable” church campus. It will lease the space for about nine months until the summer of 2019. At that point, the building will close for a complete renovation.