Convene Opens New York City's Most Advanced Professional Conference Center; Brings Added Capability to the Downtown Business Community

NEW YORK, April 29, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- New York City's newest corporate conference center -- an expansive, nearly 40,000 square foot facility which brings new capabilities to the downtown business community for hosting conferences and collaborations -- opened for business today in the city's downtown financial district.

The new location at 32 Old Slip is Convene's (www.convene.com) third conference center in New York and is the largest new business to open in lower Manhattan since Hurricane Sandy -- a testament to downtown's perpetual resilience and continuous economic revitalization.

Convene at 32 Old Slip is an adaptive reuse of what was formerly a Goldman Sachs training center. A $4 million renovation has transformed the vacated space into New York's most technologically integrated conference and collaboration site with space and service that reflects its Human-Centered Design methodology.

"Local government, our landlord and the rest of the downtown business community have been extremely supportive and welcoming; this is definitely a pro-business district.  Now that we are open, we look forward to hosting off-site meetings and conferences here in the neighborhood.  We made a very concerted effort to design the space in ways that made it equally accommodating for both our typical Fortune 1000 clientele and for the area's fast-growing, digital and Internet companies," said Ryan Simonetti, co-founder and principal of Convene. "Some spaces are perfectly appointed for small, generative group sessions while others, like our Forum, comfortably accommodate over 200 participants in classroom style seating -- there is a perfectly curated space to fit every occasion."

Founded in 2009 as Sentry Centers by two young entrepreneurs, Christopher Kelly and Ryan Simonetti, the company rebranded as Convene in February of this year. Its three locations in Manhattan offer a combined 110,000 square feet of space making it the largest network of dedicated conference centers in New York City.  In three years of operation, Convene has already served close to two-thirds of all New York-based Fortune 500 companies; its meetings rooms can accommodate groups ranging from eight to 300 people. Convene's team has quickly grown to nearly 100 members with revenues set to exceed $19 million in 2013.

George Fertitta, chief executive officer of NYC & Company, the city's official marketing, tourism and partnership organization, commented: "We're pleased that Convene is opening its newest location in lower Manhattan, an area that has seen a dramatic revitalization over the last decade.  With this thoughtful new investment in downtown, meeting planners will have more reason than ever before to book their next meeting or event in one of the city's most attractive and vibrant neighborhoods."

"32 Old Slip represents the culmination of an evolutionary process that began right after we launched our second midtown conference center at 810 Seventh Avenue," said Christopher Kelly, Convene co-founder and principal.  "In the process of building that site from scratch we were forced to study every aspect of the meeting experience from the interconnected perspectives of meeting planners, the meeting participants and our own service team.  Our newest design at 32 Old Slip more formally enlisted our clients and a research team who, through the Human-Centered Design methodology, further improved the on-site experience in ways that make collaboration more enjoyable and productive."

Nevil Shah, principal of Sunrise Capital Partners, an investment firm with offices in N.Y.C. and Mumbai and which has led Convene through all three rounds of investment, commented, "We have continually believed in and backed Convene's vision to develop an entirely new category of collaborative conference space and services."

For more information about Convene's conference center at 32 Old Slip, visit http://convene.com/location/32oldslip.

About Convene
Convene (www.convene.com) develops and operates full service conference centers and collaboration space through various lease, joint venture and service arrangements.  Founded in 2009 by two young entrepreneurs, Christopher Kelly and Ryan Simonetti, Convene provides an end to end solution to host off-site meetings and conferences for Fortune 1000 companies and other groups requiring professional, technologically integrated collaborative environments.  Distinct from other suppliers, Convene develops and operates all of its own space and services which, by using a human centered design methodology are aligned to produce a more enjoyable and productive corporate meeting experience.

Contacts:
Emily Simmons / Rick Anderson
Feintuch Communications
212-808-4904 / 718-986-1596
[email protected]

SOURCE Convene

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