The 3rd largest city in the sprawling Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, Arlington is located between Fort Worth to the west and Dallas to the east. Each year sees an average of 6.8 million visitors, all of whom find something to enjoy among the theme parks, museums, sporting arenas and other event venues in Arlington. In fact, it's this unique mix of business and pleasure that makes this city a memorable destination for meeting groups of all kinds.
At the forefront of Arlington meeting venues is the Arlington Convention Center. The center's 48,600-square-foot exhibit hall features room for up to 5,000 guests (or 276 10-ft by 10-ft booths), while the 30,000-square-foot grand hall accommodates up to 3,000 guests. In addition, 12 meeting rooms offer 8,500 square feet of space for breakout sessions. Hotel venues in Arlington include the 311-room Sheraton Hotel (adjacent to the convention center). The Sheraton recently completed a $15-million renovation that added 21,000 square feet of function space to the convention center's total offering.
The Arlington Convention Center is 10 miles south of Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, 20 miles southwest of Love Field, and less than half a mile from top Arlington attractions such as Six Flags Over Texas and Rangers Ballpark. Both of these have facilities for large group functions: guests can kick back with a beer and peanuts at the ballpark's 17,000-square-foot Diamond Club, or bond with colleagues as they careen around the tracks on Six Flags' Titan rollercoaster, the 85-mile-per-hour drops of which are among the fastest in the world. The fun continues at unique venues such as Cowboys Stadium, the Legends of the Game Baseball Museum and the Planetarium at the University of Texas Arlington.
Planners can treat their meeting attendees to post-conference drinks or recognition dinners at one of the many Arlington dining venues that welcome private groups. Zagat-rated Cacharel has a menu of Texas favorites and a spacious banquet room for up to 400 guests, and BlackFinn American Saloon features upscale American cuisine and customizable group packages. Arlington's Studio Movie Grill, a combination dinner-movie theater, offers diverse menus, ranging from corporate lunches to mix-and-mingle packages, along with versatile function space and audio-visual equipment.
Arlington is close to a number of prominent companies in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area, and home to the headquarters of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission Region IV. It is also home to University of Texas at Arlington, the 3rd largest institution of the UT system.
