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When the news reported the story earlier this week, it almost seemed exciting.

“The newest downtown Las Vegas venture is now open. A ribbon-cutting ceremony ushered in the opening of Meet Las Vegas on Tuesday. Meet Las Vegas is a three-story, 30,000 square foot convention venue that sits on the corner of 4th and Bridger.

City leaders hope the facility will bring corporate events, trade shows and conventions to downtown Las Vegas. “We have so many things happening in downtown,” Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman said. “The one thing that we were really missing, other than an arena or stadium, was a convention center.

Supporters of the project view it as another step in the city’s ongoing effort to revitalize the area. “I think that what it shows people is that downtown has huge potential,” Meet Las Vegas CEO Dan Maddux said. “A lot of people, to a degree, have forgotten about downtown. There is so much room for expansion in growth in the downtown area.”

When I first read the story and watched the accompanying video, frankly, I was a little disappointed that I had missed it.  I mean, it’s not every day that a new convention center opens in Downtown Las Vegas.  I didn’t even know that one was in the works.  This one had come in completely under my radar.

Obviously, once I found out about the new “convention center” in my own backyard … I had to investigate.

With this in mind, I gathered a few people, hopped in my 2012 Turbocharged Hovering Bentley, and drove over to get my own photographs and check out this exciting new venue.

When I arrived at Meet las vegas, I was slightly disappointed to find that the structure was built like a fortress.  There was no lobby, no information desk, no … anything.  Just a series of locked, steel doors at ground level.  Not only were the doors solid, but there wasn’t a single window on the entire structure.  It didn’t look like a “convention center” at all.  It looked like a self-storage place.  Or maybe a vault.

After circling the building a couple of times trying to get in, a woman finally came out of the back door.  Naturally, I decided to see if I could charm my way into her good graces and see if I could glean any information from her.  She was perfectly pleasant, and to her credit, she tried to help.

To the best of my recollection, the conversation went something like this:

Me:  Hi, is any part of the new convention center open to the public?
Lady:  What new convention center?
Me:  I thought this building housed the new Downtown convention center?
Lady:  This is an office building.
Me:  It’s just an office building?
Lady:  Well, there is a room on the third floor where people can meet.
Me:  Where they can “meet”?  You mean like a conference room?
Lady:  Yes.  You can call and reserve it for private functions.
Me:  I see.
Lady:  Someone told you that this was a convention center?
Me:  Well, I saw it on the news, and they called it a “convention” something or other.
Lady:  (kind of laughing) Well, you can rent a room to meet, I guess that’s what they meant.
Me:  Yeah I guess.  Okay, thanks.
Lady:  You’re welcome.
Me:  Want a Valium?
Lady:  Sure, thanks.
(At this point, her life spiraled out of control.  The lady ran over to an infant child in a stroller and devoured it in a drug-fueled rampage, leaving little more than a bloody carcass and a grieving mother demanding to know why more hadn’t been done about the epidemic of prescription drug abuse.)

And there you have it.  Well, except for the last couple of lines.  Those are there for my own personal amusement.

I suppose Meet las vegas could technically be considered a convention center … if your convention is really, really small.  For instance, “The 2010 Convention of People With an IQ of 90 or Greater Who Own The Movie ‘Hangover’ on DVD” would be perfectly suited for Meet las vegas.  Assuming the event organizers had already tried and failed to rent a phone booth.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad something new is open and I’m not trying to be the warm piss in the pool, but I’m just not as optimistic as our city leaders regarding the venue eliciting some kind of massive Downtown re-awakening.  As a Downtown-dweller, I would really like for that to be the case, but I just don’t know how much business a meeting room is going to generate for the surrounding area.  I think the slow news week made the development sound bigger than it was.

Anyway, Downtown Las Vegas now has a brand new office building that contains a meeting room.

Feel the excitement.

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