TheLas Cruces Convention Center celebrated its grand opening with a ribbon cutting, dinner and daylong open house. The events were well attended by community and state leaders as well as members of the local hospitality and business communities. The center is 55,000 sq. ft. with just over 30,000 sq. ft. of meeting space. The facility features a 14,500-sq. ft. exhibition hall as well as a 8,950-sq. ft. ballroom. There are 6 breakout rooms totaling nearly 3,000 sq. ft. Additionally, there are over 5,000 sq. ft. of outdoor space and 8,500 sq. ft. of indoor pre-function space.


Although the level has yet to be determined, the facility will be Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified and features a variety of renewable energy efforts including low water usage landscaping materials that were used to landscape the facility, the reserved parking spaces for alternative energy vehicles and rows of bicycle racks to encourage alternative forms of transportation. The roof was painted a light color to reflect heat and photovoltaic cells are used to convert sun energy to electricity to further reduce energy costs for the facility. Inside, energy-efficient lighting was used throughout as well as low-flow plumbing to reduce water consumption.