Developers say they will target smaller conventions that don't need the space offered at the city's

Sports fans who swarm the adjacent Superdome and New Orleans Arena still figure in the model the New Orleans Bowl, Sugar Bowl, BCS college football championship and NCAA men's Final Four basketball championship are set for the Superdome over the next several months.
Developers say they will target smaller conventions that don't need the space offered at the city's giant riverfront convention center. Such conventions, they and tourism officials say, often go to other cities where the space they need is more readily available.
Poydras Properties Hotel Holdings, which includes a subsidiary intercontinental hotel chicago of Chicago-based Hyatt Hotels Corp., bought the site in 2007 for $32 million and reconfigured the 32-story building to 1,193 rooms and suites and 200,000 square feet of meeting and event space.
The Superdome was rebuilt in a recently intercontinental hotel chicago completed $336 million overhaul, while an office tower abandoned after the storm was bought by New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson and refurbished. Also in the complex are the New Orleans Arena, home of the NBA's New Orleans Hornets, and a projected entertainment district.