Big, bright Halifax Convention Centre opens doors after 2-year delay

Big and bright.

Those are the best words to describe the new Halifax Convention Centre, which officially opened its doors on Friday.

"This new centre gives us the opportunity to show visitors everything that makes our city and our region unique," said Halifax Mayor Mike Savage. "Our guests will create great memories that will inspire them to come back."

The new building has a massive ballroom lined with windows on one side.

On the bottom level isanother huge room built specifically to host conferences.

"We are ready to welcome the world to our brand new, state-of-the-art facility," said Carrie Cussons, president and CEO of the Halifax Convention Centre.

"We look forward to delivering an amazing event experience for our guests that will make Nova Scotians proud."

Ninety events are already booked for the facility's first year of operations, including 44 national and international conventions. The first scheduled event is the Canadian Junior Weightlifting Nationals in late January.

Staff at the centre are planning a welcome weekend for the public to see the new facility Jan. 12 to 14.

Breaking ground in 2012, the Halifax Convention Centre took five years to completeand is part of a larger $500-million project known as the Nova Centre. The entire one-million-square-foot space is designed tohouse the convention centre, a luxury hoteland business and retail space.

The complex was originally supposed to open in January 2016,but the date has been pushed backseveral times.Some partsof the Nova Centre remain under construction.

That cost the convention centre 22 events that had been booked for 2017.

The construction hasalso caused headaches for some local businesses, which launched andthen abandoned a lawsuit over lost revenue.

On Friday, protesters were on the scene holding a sign that read, "Convention Centre: a waste of $100sof millions in public funds."

Taxpayers are spending $169.2 million for the convention centre part of a deal with the developer that is cost shared by three levels of government.