The Grand Concourse Expansion brings a grand ballroom and additional meeting space to the Orange County Convention Center.
Building on its legacy as The Center of Hospitality, the award-winning Orange County Convention Center (OCCC) has embarked on the Grand Concourse Expansion project that showcases Orlando’s commitment to continuously evolve as a meetings destination with new, modern venue options.
Go inside this transformational endeavor and it’s immense impact on the record-breaking shows that call the OCCC — and Orlando, Cvent’s No. 1 Meeting Destination for 10 years — home.
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Inside the Grand Concourse Expansion
The $560-million Grand Concourse Expansion will provide the OCCC’s North-South Building with enhanced connectivity; a 100,000-square-foot, flexible grand ballroom; 44,000 square feet of versatile meeting room space; and multipurpose areas for additional capacity.
“We are excited to begin work on our Grand Concourse Expansion,” said OCCC Executive Director Mark Tester. “This project will significantly improve the convention center as we continue to meet the growing needs of our clients, and the meetings and events industry.”
Construction for the Grand Concourse Expansion will begin in 2026 and is expected to finish in 2029.
The OCCC also received approval to design the second phase of the expansion project. This phase would bring an additional 200,000 square feet of contiguous multipurpose exhibit space to the building, while also incorporating connectivity between the North and South Concourses.
When completed, both phases will provide a grand total of 1.15 million square feet of exhibit space in the North-South Building.
Citywide Shows Breaking Attendance Records
The start of the Grand Concourse Expansion comes as major shows – several held annually at the OCCC – reported record or increased attendance in 2025, reinforcing the need to grow the already 7-million-square-foot facility which includes 2.1 million square feet of exhibit space.
January
The annual PGA Show held its largest show in 15 years with more than 33,000 attendees and 1,100 exhibitors.
The VMX Veterinary Meeting 2025 hosted record attendance with nearly 30,000 attendees from 86 countries and 735 exhibitors.
February
Vision Expo East’s strategic move to Orlando and the OCCC proved successful. The most comprehensive event for the optical industry attracted increased participation from Florida-based professionals and attendees from 105 countries while also experiencing an influx of first-time attendees, who comprised 44% of all show visitors.
March
Global Pet Expo, known for delivering the latest innovations in pet products, welcomed nearly 20,000 attendees with record-breaking global attendance across more than 105 countries.
April & May
Coverings 2025, the largest and preeminent international ceramic tile and natural stone event in North America, experienced year-over-year growth with an increased qualified attendance of 25,000 industry professionals and 1,000 exhibitors representing 40 countries.
June & July
InfoComm 2025, the largest technology exhibition and conference in North America focused on the pro AV industry, welcomed a record 31,000 attendees from 97 countries.
Premiere Orlando, part of the nation’s leading network of beauty industry events, concluded another record-breaking edition by setting new benchmarks for global reach with 52,000 visits from professionals and students from 47 countries and all 50 U.S. states.
Smaller citywide shows also experienced increased attendance success. The Future of Education Technology Conference (FETC) saw their attendance from prior year grow to 9,000 attendees, ASI Orlando 2025 held the largest East Coast show in the promotional products industry with more than 4,000 attendees, and US Chess held their largest competition since 2017 with more than 4,500 competitors.
Amateur sporting events held at the OCCC are also experiencing great success. The 2025 AAU Junior Volleyball National Championships, held annually in June and July, is primed to break its attendance records with 325,500 estimated attendees. The 2024 edition was the largest sporting event ever held at the OCCC, and the event has held the Guiness Book of World Records mark for the largest volleyball event in the world since 2012.
With a transformational expansion on the horizon to further support our citywide clients’ success, the Orange County Convention Center is showing the meetings industry why it’s called The Center of Hospitality.
