Still a draw for Northeasterners who have ventured south to enjoy the ocean breezes, sugary beaches and fresh seafood for generations, Virginia Beach, Va., has fixed its gaze on the future, in both a development and sustainability sense, with meetings business being the key driver.

Meetings South participated in a FAM trip to the destination in mid-June and saw the amazing strides the destination has taken to provide best-in-class sustainable meetings infrastructure and options, as well as its forward-thinking strategy to provide a vibrant entertainment district that is easily accessible by light rail from the Virginia Beach Convention Center.

While according to Jim Ricketts, director of the Virginia Beach CVB, seven new hotels have been built in the last 10 years, the most impressive projects are yet to come.

Large developments that are on the books include the Laskin Road Gateway Corridor, a pedestrian-friendly retail, residential and entertainment corridor that Ricketts says will serve as "the intersection between tourists and locals on Virginia Beach."

Of prime importance to the meetings industry is the $150 million entertainment center that will be accessible by light rail to convention center delegates via a light rail system. According to Ricketts, the project (which at press time was scheduled in July to come before the city council for approval) would include 47 different entertainment components, with a possible opening date in the spring or fall of 2013. The light rail line, an extension of neighboring Roanoke’s light rail, could be completed in 2014 or 2015.

And while the bullish outlook on development is refreshing, perhaps the most impressive accolade concerns the leading role Virginia Beach and its LEED Gold convention center have taken in the sustainable meetings movement.

The destination recently was named the commonwealth of Virginia’s first "Virginia Green Destination," a voluntary program that is run via a partnership between the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, the Virginia Tourism Corporation and the Virginia Hospitality and Tourism Corporation.

To qualify as a Virginia Green Destination, a group of local hospitality businesses and organizations surpassed Virginia Green goals by certifying 20 restaurants, 12 hotels, an attraction and the Virginia Beach Convention Center as meeting the sustainability requirements of the program.

According to the Virginia Beach CVB, more than 115 local businesses, including 42 percent of its hotel rooms, are Virginia Green certified. The CVB was the first Platinum business member of the Green Meeting Industry Council and is also a member of the Convene Green Alliance.

Pamela M. Lingle, communications manager for the Virginia Beach CVB, says that the sustainability effort extends to the large events that visit Virginia Beach, too.

"All major events are required to be Virginia Green certified this year," she says, which means large gathering such as marathons must recycle, practice energy and water conservation, and cannot use Styrofoam.

To aid in the planning of green events, the CVB has a special events department that guides groups through the process.

"We connect them with vendors that can help them—there are over 115 businesses that have to be recertified every year," she says. "We have a goal to get 10 new hotels and 15 new restaurants certified—our goal is to have more green options for our visitors."

The CVB also helps set up Corporate Social Responsibility programs, such as working with the United Way, Habitat for Humanity and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southeast Virginia’s food bank.

In May, the Virginia Beach Convention Center was the first convention center in the U.S. to earn a LEED Gold certification in the Existing Building category. The facility currently offers 515,000 square feet of very contemporary meeting and convention space, and also has room to expand to more than double its current size.

Plans are afoot for a 400-room, corporate-owned Hyatt Regency headquarters hotel across from the convention center, with hopes that further phases would bring it to 700 rooms.

In Virginia Beach, sustainability walks hand in hand with its progression as a major mid-tier meetings destination.

"For one, it’s the right thing to do," Lingle says. "We also believe it’s becoming the price of doing business. If you don’t have it, you won’t be on the short list of meetings in the future."

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