The addition of high-quality meeting space could help bring more people and their dollars to Brookings, Al Heuton, executive director of the Brookings Economic Development Corporation, told city councilors on Tuesday.

Heuton gave a presentation at this week's Brookings City Council meeting about the community's visitor industry. He

the information after councilors requested BEDC analysis regarding the proposed Swiftel Center expansion, second penny funds and economic development efforts here.

The council is considering a nearly $8 million expansion plan for the Swiftel Center and is now trying to find a hotelier willing to build a privately-owned hotel attached to the center .

Heuton said that in a perfect world, a quality meeting space would include a ball- room, breakout rooms and amphitheater seating; state-ofthe-art technology; a motel and full-service restaurant; highquality internal/external environment ; and a location within walking distance of things to do during breaks and at night.

"BEDC is interested in " conferences and conventions, because that brings those people to the community that we might want to market Brookings to." Conference center needed

"If we're going to do that," he continued, and I think do that successfully, a high-quality , state-of-the-art meeting space or conference space attached to a hotel with a restaurant is important to be competitive."

BEDC is interested in using visitor funds to bring conferences to Brookings that allow the organization to market the city as a location for business. While visitor spending is a short-term gain, more conference space could contribute to the long-term goal of workforce and industry growth or recruitment , Heuton added.

"If we're going to do that, again, we believe that highquality conference space and probably a conference management program would help contribute to that goal." What's best site?

Councilor Jael Thorpe wanted to know if the Swiftel Center was the best site for high-quality meeting space.

"Do we need to look at some other locations?" she asked.

Heuton said that information might come out as the city tries to find a hotel partner on the Swiftel Center expansion. Only that site has been evaluated so far, so Heuton couldn't say if other areas, like the Department of Transportation property, South Dakota State University Innovation Campus or the proposed northwest neighborhood at SDSU, would be better.

"To make it work, it has to work for a motel," he explained. "So that would be a key consideration , what the moteliers think about a prime location to make the project work." Not the 'whole package'

Heuton said other facilities in Brookings already have certain features of high-quality meeting space, but none have the whole package.

Councilor Mike Bartley said that high-quality meeting rooms are a key component of economic development in Brookings. They would help bring more visitors to town during the week rather than on the weekend.

"All the other stuff we've done at the Swiftel Center up to this point is a Friday-Saturday-Sunday type of thing, so it really opens up new opportunities for the hotels " and restaurants that are busy on weekends can maybe be busy during the week." Is bigger better?

Bartley wondered if the city should plan an even bigger Swiftel Center expansion.

"I think what we probably need to do is sit back and look at our plans for the Swiftel Center at this point and say, 'Is it enough?' We've always said that maybe it was too much, but is it enough and is it in the right configuration?

"Is it going to cost us another million dollars to put this thing in a high-tech position, and if it does, I think the benefit and the payback are there. I think it really opens up a market that's not even considered by any of the studies that we paid for or VenuWorks paid for."

Thorpe said she still wanted to know how the BEDC board of directors felt and get its recommendation on the proposed Swiftel Center expansion.

Contact Jill Fier at jfier@brookingsregister .com.