Does Brookfield need a conference center?

If there's one thing that could help Brookfield draw more visitors to its businesses, it's more conference space.

That's Nancy Justman's hunch, anyway. The executive director of the Brookfield Convention and Visitors Bureau hopes to have the idea proved or defeated over the course of the next three months, when a consultant will study the feasibility of building a conference center in Brookfield.

"We're looking to find out, would it be feasible to build it, would we be able to fill it, suggestions for size, all of that," she said.

The CVB and city of Brookfield Economic Development Committee are splitting the cost of the $30,000 study. The first step - picking a consultant - is under way, and a decision is expected by mid-February.

Justman is well aware of the community's limitations when it comes to conference space.

With a budget that hovers around a half-million dollars a year, a team of three CVB staffers stays busy behind the scenes wooing businesspeople, leisure travelers and sports fans on behalf of Brookfield's 13 hotels. The group serves the town and city of Brookfield.

Right now, the CVB targets groups of 200 or fewer people looking to hold events and meetings. Brookfield simply doesn't have conference space to accommodate larger groups.

"Our largest conference space is 10,000 square feet, so that limits the size of the events we can go after," she said.

Tim Casey, city of Brookfield economic development coordinator, points out that Brookfield has more than 6 million square feet of office space. That means there may be plenty of local businesses that need conference or training space, too.

On its face, Brookfield seems like a good location for large meeting spaces, he said.

"We have the third largest cluster of hotels in the metro area," he said. "There's downtown and the airport, and then there's Brookfield. We have one of the top retail corridors in the state and about 160 restaurants. We have a lot of the amenities people look for."

Ultimately, the study will determine what demand exists for such space.

Whatever comes after the study, it is sure to be a busy time. If the consultant recommends building a conference center, there will be plenty of work to do to bring that idea to fruition. On the other hand, if the recommendation is not in favor of building a center, the CVB will begin the process of determining where its efforts will be best spent over the next five or so years, Justman said.