Alliant Energy Center is `hub` for dairy industry; expansion expected to create jobs, development

Stakeholders and community leaders are hoping the planned expansion and redevelopment of the Alliant Energy Center will help the state`s agricultural and dairy industries and create an economic development boom in the area surrounding the center.

The expansion would get $30 million in state funding under a proposal Gov. Tony Evers announced Wednesday. 

The $90 million project, which is the first phase of a master plan, will convert the Exhibition Hall from being a regional exposition center to a full-service convention center for all of Wisconsin and the upper Midwest.

Evers said many venue users have grown out of the facility, so the investment is necessary in order to compete with other venues across the region....

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Ken Notes: I hope this time we have all the stakeholders at the table. We can not create a world class venue at the price of losing our world class events. I want a long term contract with World Dairy, Canoecopia, and all the rest before we spend a dime. A a former director of the National Association of Tax Professionals I promise we looked at price as well as venue and if we promised 2,000 rooms the event space was almost free. Thus without a hotel to drive the space, rents have to be affordable... Look at Monona Terrace truly world class facility yet vastly under utilized. Please correct me if I am wrong.