Planners looking for fly-in/fly-out meetings with a surprising amount of flair should consider LaGuardia Airport area venues. Used by approximately 22 million travelers a year, LaGuardia Airport is in the northern part of Queens County has been an integral part of the Northern Queens community since opening in 1939.
Not only is it convenient, the LaGuardia Airport area is said to be part of the most ethnically diverse region anywhere. The 7 subway line, referred to as the International Express, has been designated a part of the National Millennium Trail. Flushing is not only the home of LaGuardia Airport but also the biggest Chinatown on the East coast.
Talk about convenience. The LaGuardia Airport area is only eight miles from the popular tourist and sightseeing attractions in midtown Manhattan. About seven miles from the Midtown Tunnel, LaGuardia Airport is just off the Grand Central Parkway. It is also close to John F. Kennedy International Airport, which makes for easy transfers.
Near LaGuardia, Flushing Meadows Corona Park, one of the largest parks in New York City, and the site of the 1939 and 1964 World's Fairs, houses the New York Hall of Science, the Queens Museum of Art, the Queens Zoo, the Queens Botanical Garden, the Louis Armstrong House Museum and the Arthur Ashe Stadium/USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. The Stadium/Center, which is home to the U.S. Open, has more than 45 acres of indoor and outdoor venues for private events including six restaurants, meeting rooms, and a lounge. Citi Field Stadium, home of the New York Mets, is not only a fantastic place to watch the game, it's also the perfect place to hold an event. Citi Field has more than 200,000 square feet of hospitality space and features intimate settings for 25 people to lavish spaces for 6,000 guests in areas as large as 110,000 square feet. (This includes luxury suites, an auditorium, business center, and the Mets 2K Sports FanFest area). Ozone Park is home to Aqueduct Racetrack, a Thoroughbred horseracing track that is also a LaGuardia Airport area event venue. LaGuardia Airport event venues also include a performing arts center at LaGuardia Community College in Queens, which provides a space for student shows as well as outside special events.
LaGuardia Airport area hotels that cater to meeting groups include Clarion Hotel LaGuardia Airport, New York LaGuardia Airport Marriott Hotel, Holiday Inn LaGuardia Airport, LaGuardia Plaza Hotel (soon to be re-branded as a Hilton), Pan American Hotel, LaGuardia Airport Hotel and Wingate Inn & Suites.
With several new restaurant concepts having been added, French fries and pizza are no longer the only options at the airport: restaurants include Prime Tavern, Figs, Steinway Specialty Restaurant, Magna Restaurant and Pine Restaurant.
