BILLINGS - Two new event centers will be ready by the end of the year in Billings.
TheBillings Hotel & Convention Center will add about 16,000 square feet in a new building.
Veeder Homestead, LLC is renovating is adding to the old Carmike Theater about 30,000 square feet of convention space at 2225 Overland Drive.
Both facilities will include state-of-the-art technology.
The Veeder Event Center includes a 7,500-square-foot addition in front of the 22,000-square-foot former theater.
“We have three stationary cameras and one mobile camera so that we can live stream and zoom call, teams calls,” said Jase Muri, Billings Hotel & Convention Center general manager.
“Three projection areas where you'll be talking to people,” said David Veeder, owner of the event center.
The new buildings at each location will have the latest technology including live streaming and big screens.
The $4.9 million addition at the Billings Hotel will accommodate up to 2.000 people.
“I contend that that is what Billings and all of Montana has been looking for, a better space to hold events,” Muri said.
The new Veeder building can welcome about 500 people.
“All kinds of people have created demand for that already,” Veeder said. “So this area of town is a good area. It's good for business.”
For Veeder, the name could change.
But during construction, the building has been called the Veeder Event Center.
The smaller rooms in the back where movies used to be shown, will be for seminars and with the electronics, potential entertainment.
“For instance, a band in here in this theater section or there's another one over there and another one over there,” Veeder said.
The new building of the Billings Hotel could bring in events once held at the Montana Convention Center next door.
“Large garage door, so campers, boats, cars, motorcycles can be pulled in here to view,” Muri said.
The Veeder Event Center will be ready in two months.
“I'm looking forward to getting it all completed now here and getting it started up,” Veeder said.
And the new building at the Billings Hotel and Convention Center is scheduled to be completed in December.
“It's very exciting,” Muri said. “It's kind of the next generation. The next step in continuing to grow the business and hopefully takes us to the next level.”
