The Georgia International Convention Center or GICC, opened in April 2009, is the second largest convention center in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

, the largest being the

Georgia World Congress Center The Georgia World Congress Center (GWCC) is a convention center in Atlanta, Georgia. Enclosing some 3.9 million ft2 (360,000 m2) in exhibition space and hosting more than a million visitors each year, the GWCC is the world's largest LEED certi ...

. It is located at 2000 Convention Center Concourse, just off Camp Creek Parkway ( S.R. 6) and Roosevelt Highway ( U.S. 29) in College Park. The Convention Center is accessible from the Airport MARTA station (via a connection to the

ATL Skytrain The ATL SkyTrain is an 24/7 automated people mover (APM) at Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport that runs between the domestic terminal and rental car center. Layout and operation The system opened on December 8, 2009, to co ...

), Interstate 285, and

Interstate 85 Interstate 85 (I-85) is a major Interstate Highway in the Southeastern United States. Its southern terminus is at an interchange with I-65 in Montgomery, Alabama; its northern terminus is an interchange with I-95 in Petersburg, Virginia, ...

. It has a number of exhibit halls, meeting rooms and ballrooms that can be rented. Behind the Convention Center, the Atlanta Airport people-mover called

, connects airport patrons with the new rental car complex, four hotel accommodations, and restaurants at the Gateway Center of the Georgia International Convention Center. It is connected via ATL Skytrain. In 2016, it was to be the home to the Atlanta Vultures of

American Indoor Football American Indoor Football (AIF) was a professional indoor football league, one of the several regional professional indoor football leagues in North America. The AIFL began as a regional league with six franchises on the East Coast of the United ...

but they never played a home game due to turf issues. On November 10, 2016, the

Atlanta Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays its home games at ...

announced it had purchased an expansion team to play in the NBA Development League with the intentions of building a new 3,500-seat arena at the Gateway Center Arena to be its home for the 2019–20 season. The expansion team then began play in 2017 as the Erie BayHawks in

Erie, Pennsylvania Erie (; ) is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. Erie is the fifth largest city in Pennsylvania and the largest city in Northwestern Pennsylvania with a population of 94,831 ...

, while the arena was being finished. On November 8, 2019, the Gateway Center Arena officially opened. The Gateway Center Arena will be home to the WNBA's

Atlanta Dream The Atlanta Dream are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta, playing in the Eastern Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team was founded for the 2008 WNBA season. The team is owned by real e ...

for the 2020 season as well as the NBA G League team the College Park Skyhawks.

Previous location

Prior to 2003, the Georgia International Convention Center was located behind and connected with the Sheraton Atlanta Airport Hotel on Riverdale Road. However, because of runway expansion at the airport, they were forced to move to the current location. The previous location still exists, and the former exhibit halls are rented out primarily as temporary storage and

soundstage A sound stage (also written soundstage) is a soundproof, large structure, building, or room with large doors and high ceilings, used for the production of theatrical film-making and television productions, usually located on a secured movie stu ...

services for Atlanta's burgeoning TV and film production industry.

References

External links

Georgia International Convention Center websiteGateway Center Arena website
Arena football venues Buildings and structures in Atlanta Convention centers in Georgia (U.S. state) Tourist attractions in Atlanta College Park, Georgia Indoor arenas in Georgia (U.S. state) Basketball venues in Georgia (U.S. state) Sports venues completed in 2009 2009 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state) {{GeorgiaUS-struct-stub