ATLANTA (April 23, 2002) - In just over a month, the Georgia World Congress Center's Phase IV expansion, including 420,000 square feet of prime exhibit space, 29 new meeting rooms and a 25,700 square-foot grand ballroom, will see its first visitors pass through the doors.

The GWCC Phase IV expansion was originally slated for completion in August 2002. The Congress Center pushed forward completion of the four exhibit halls in Building C to accommodate for SUPERCOMM, a technology/communications show, scheduled for June 3-6. SUPERCOMM will become the first show to utilize all 12 exhibit halls totaling 1.4 million square feet of prime exhibit space. An estimated 50,000 people will attend the technology show, which presents leading-edge technologies in interactive formats.

"The Congress Center is dedicated to customer service - and when SUPERCOMM show managers said they needed this extra space, we made it work for them," said John Smith, general manager of the GWCC.

After the show, the GWCC Phase IV expansion will close to the public, returning to a hard hat zone where an estimated 1,200 workers will be on the site daily. Before construction is complete, a second show - the Congress Center's largest show to date - will fill the new exhibit halls. The International Woodworking Fair (IWF), which offers a wide variety of supplies, services and machinery for woodworking professionals, will open on Aug. 22.

"This addition allows us to meet the demand for additional exhibit space that, to date, we have not been able to accommodate. We're optimistic that IWF 2002 will encompass 800,000 net square feet, up from the 706,007 net square feet we used in 2000," said John D. Bassett, III, IWF 2002 Chairman and President of Vaughan-Bassett Furniture Co. of Galax, Va.

"To date, space sales are ahead of where we were at this point for IWF 2000. The three exhibit floors are filling up quickly and we may need to expand into some of the meeting rooms and concourses to meet the increased demand. Buyers should look forward to a fabulous show," Bassett said. In addition to the 420,000 square feet of exhibit space, the expansion includes 29 more meeting rooms and a 25,700 square-foot ballroom. The expansion, by itself, would be the tenth largest convention center in the United States.

After Woodworking closes its exhibit doors, the project will again be turned over to the construction workers. Final completion is slated for early October. InterBev 2002 will be the first show to occupy all areas of the new facility.