American 1 Event Center

Project Details

Client

Jackson County Parks Department

Location

Jackson, MI

Scale

36,190 Square Feet

Cost

$6,200,000 construction cost

Completion

2020

About the project:

Located at Keeley Park (Jackson County Fairgrounds), the new American 1 Credit Union Event Center is minutes off of I-94 and within walking distance from revitalized downtown Jackson. The new event center is a multi-use facility that offers uniquely designed space flexible enough for gatherings from conventions, trade shows, weddings, smaller meetings and parties.

 Objectives

  • Create a timeless, flexible environment to be a destination for users at any time of year
  • Building design should connect with the adjacent river and compliment the existing architecture of the County fairgrounds
  • The space should create a welcoming and unique experience
  • Project demonstrates financial sustainability
  • Measures of success include diversity of events, efficient event change over, customer satisfaction, and low maintenance/operational costs

Outcomes

The new 36,000 square foot event center includes a pre function space, light filled office environment for staff, a commercial catering kitchen, a private meeting room, and a dividable big box space for events with adjacent covered outdoor space. The building materials include a precast concrete and masonry structure, and the interior meeting and common spaces consist of exposed cedar timber that tie into the surrounding natural area.

The team also completed extensive medium voltage and utility design for renovating the electrical utility power for servicing a variety of events at the facility, and the County Fair in particular. This included a medium voltage loop with step down transformers to low voltage utility connections for general services power to meet the significant number of venders that could be utilizing the service. The medium voltage loop also includes future opportunities and growth to the north for expansion.

See a video tour of the new event center here.