St. Charles takes aim at small, mid-size meetings. (convention center in St. Charles, Missouri)(Focus: Business Meetings and Travels)

St. Charles takes aim at small, mid-size meetings

In a process that began more than two years ago, the city of St. Charles is moving ahead on its plans to develop a convention center for small to medium-size meetings.

Although completion of the facility will take another two years, the city's Convention and Visitors Bureau is finding meeting planners interested and has even booked its first show for January 1993.

"We wanted to capitalize on our success in drawing 800,000-plus visitors annually to the city," said Mayor Grace Nichols.

She and the city council felt they could enhance tourism efforts even more with the construction of a convention center. In the spring of 1989, Coopers & Lybrand issued a report that verified a market did exist for a center in St. Charles.

Throughout 1990, the city solicited …