Top Reasons to Meet in Macomb: Active, Nautical, Laid Back

Macomb County, a northern suburb of Detroit traditionally known as a bedroom community, has transformed itself in the past few years into an attractive destination for meeting planners. Its exciting business environment includes advance manufacturing, automotive, aerospace and defense. Worth noting: Ford, General Motors and Chrysler have each recently announced one billion (yep, billion!) dollars of investments into their Macomb County facilities.  

If you’re planning your next meeting in metro Detroit, consider Macomb. Here’s why:

Wide Open (Meeting) Spaces

Both the south and center campus of Macomb Community College offer top notch meeting facilities. President Obama chose the Macomb Sports & Expo Center as the venue for his September 2015 visit. The expo center has easy access to freeways and flexible meeting spaces for larger gatherings, featuring a 61,000-square-foot open floor space and a maximum seating capacity of 3,500. The 22,035-square-foot John Lewis Conference Center has 12 conference rooms from 250 to 5,400 square feet.

Macomb Center for the Performing Arts at the college’s center campus is just 30 minutes from downtown Detroit and offers a 1,200-seat theater plus a spacious lobby area, while the Center for Executive & Professional Development provides lecture halls, breakout rooms and classrooms.

The Wyndam Garden Sterling Heights completed a $3 million renovation in 2015. The hotel offers 15,905 square feet of meeting space along with 192 guest rooms and suites. The venue’s 32,000-square-foot aquatic center is a big hit with families.

MacRay Harbor on the shores of beautiful Lake St. Clair features a yacht-club atmosphere and spectacular views from every window “” the perfect location for business meetings, conferences and receptions for up to 450.

The Mirage Banquets and Catering and Penna’s of Sterling are both popular choices for hosting large receptions, known for exceptional food and great service.

So Much To Do!

Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre at Freedom Hill gets better every year. The lineup of concerts for the 2016 season promises the best variety and quality of acts yet, as shows will now be booked by Live Nation, the largest booking company in the world. A canopied outdoor VIP club hosts receptions for up to 500 and an on-site banquet and events center can accommodate 200.

For an elegant setting that provides a sense of place, Ford Houe (Edsel & Eleanor Ford House) is a historic auto baron mansion with 87 acres of surrounding grounds, ideal for meetings and receptions.Jimmy John’s Field, a new $12 million minor-league baseball stadium is under construction and will throw out the first pitch in June 2016.

Host up to 2,000 attendees for a casual reception at Dave & Buster’s Utica, with 200 midway games, billiard tables, shuffleboard and a full-service dining room spread out over 55,000 square feet of space.

But Wait … There’s More!

Meeting attendees like to bring home a souvenir or two. Luckily, Macomb offers a slew of shopping options “” most notably the open-air Mall at Partridge Creek. And a long-planned outlet mall is signing tenants, including a reported Cabela’s.

C.J. Barrymore’s Family Entertainment Center, a favorite spot for families, corporations, churches and schools, is undergoing a $5 million overhaul, adding two roller coasters, a zip line, drop tower, and new go-kart track and laser tag room to its existing bowling, bumper cars, arcade games, mini golf and batting cages.

Lake St. Clair, with its 34 miles of coastline, offers swimming, boating, fishing and other recreational opportunities. To top it all off, Macomb is also home to six local craft breweries, 26 golf courses, parks, bike trails and a booming agri-tourism industry, with 500 farms, eight orchards and several seasonal farmers markets.

Wondering where to hang your hat? Macomb has 23 different hotels of varying sizes and price ranges to house your attendees.