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closeFor a former department store, the Galleria Conference Center and Banquet Hall in Centerville makes a good first impression.
“It’s really exciting to see people step foot in the door and say, ‘Gosh! This was Goody’s!’ ’’ said Gwen Kirkland, who opened the conference center in the mall last month.
The mercantile makeover started with the basics: a good cleaning, new carpet and fresh paint. Chandeliers and wood trim and moulding added a touch of class, and several ceiling-mounted projectors were installed.
One corner was turned into a bar and lounge. On the opposite end of the building, two sections of hardwood flooring — for dancing — were put in on each side of a performance area.
“There are so many ways you can set this up,” said Kirkland. “Every event we’ve had so far has been different.”
The center fills a major need in the Warner Robins area: None of the surrounding hotels in the city have meeting rooms that seat more than 100. The center can seat as many as 2,000.
“We just thought it would be a perfect location, being right in the middle of the hospitality industry,” said Kirkland. “We’re hoping to partner with (the hotels). They have the sleeping rooms. We have the meeting room.”
The center already has booked 15 weddings. Next week, it will host statewide, regional and local candidates for the second annual Middle Georgia Regional Political Hobnob. And in December, it will host the first Robins Regional Economic Forecast Luncheon.
Ed Rodriguez, president and CEO of the Warner Robins Area Chamber of Commerce, said the conference center is a welcome addition, giving the community a large meeting space at no expense to taxpayers.
“She’s given us an entire market that Houston County can go after for conventions,” Rodriguez said.
Kirkland, a North Carolina native, moved to Warner Robins two years ago. She moved her employment and training business here and later built the Warner Robins Conference Center, a smaller meeting hall, on North Davis Drive.
“The conference center came about from the need I had for meeting space and offices,” Kirkland said. “I just couldn’t find it anywhere.”
Located just three minutes from Robins Air Force Base, that conference center stays booked with meetings, smaller weddings and churches. USA Dance also uses the building.
“They were looking for a home with hardwood floors,” Kirkland said.
Rodriguez called the North Davis Drive center “one of the best-kept secrets in Middle Georgia.”
“She has been really successful in keeping that thing booked year-round,” he said. “Here’s somebody in the private sector who made their own investment and made it a go.”
Kirkland said customer demand led her to open the bigger conference center in Centerville.
“Warner Robins is growing, and we saw the demand for this. It was the customers who really made us see what needed to happen here,” she said.
“I thought this would be the perfect location for the conferences where one of the spouses has to take the family along. You have the movie theater, shopping, entertainment. Everything’s here, the restaurants. There’s no way anyone would get bored.”
Kirkland plans to turn what is now prep space in the back, near a loading dock, into a full-service kitchen area next year.
The center offers “turn-key” events, with staff handling everything, or customers can bring in their own planners and caterers. The center offers wedding packages, including the top-of-the-line “gold” packagfe that includes limousine service.
“A lot of the planners who have come through here have said this venue is large enough to host the wedding and reception,” said Kirkland.
Stewart Scott, owner of Stewart’s Bridal and Tuxedo, got his first look at the new conference center last week. He said he might move his long-running bridal show, which draws 35 to 45 vendors, to the center.
“I’m impressed,” he said. “It’s more open than I anticipated. There will be plenty of room for our vendors.
“The location’s great. This building, as a conference center, will be an asset to Middle Georgia.”
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