After more than two years without a convention center, Santa Fe hotel managers are relieved by the completion of the new Santa Fe Community Convention Center.

The $63 million, 73,000-square-foot facility officially opened for business Thursday.

Almost as important as the new center, hoteliers say, is the leadership of Keith Toler, the executive director of the city's Convention and Visitors Bureau, who has won wide praise for his expertise and dedication.

Most expect the center and the new enthusiasm at the CVB to bring more business to town, perhaps in larger groups than the former Sweeney Center — a converted high-school gymnasium — was able to accommodate.

The events calendar CVB put on the Internet last week shows that about 40 groups, local and out of town, have booked space in the center through 2010. Seven of those are citywide groups, meaning they will need more than one hotel.

"It's going to be a wonderful new addition to promote the destination Santa Fe," said Rich Verruni, managing director of The Bishop's Lodge. "It's going to get us back in the convention business."

In the last two years, Santa Fe has "lost momentum," Verruni said. "That's what's happens when an organization is trying to evolve into something new."

Once Toler gets a sales team in place, "we expect to put a lot of business on the books for the next decade," Verruni said, adding that the new center and new CVB will be particularly helpful during the much dreaded shoulder and off seasons, winter and early spring, when hotel bookings lag.

Ginny Kimble, chairman of the board of La Fonda, agreed. "We're very elated," she said. "This is a fabulous benefit for the entire community. All the events that got displaced can now come back" to the Community Convention Center.

Many groups that have wanted to come to Santa Fe couldn't because of the lack of a suitable meeting space, she said. With the new center up and running, "we've gone from a third-tier city to a first-tier city. ... We're now able to host those big meetings. The center will complement us and our group business."

Kimble also expects the new center to benefit the city's galleries and restaurants.

One restaurateur, Laurie Lucero, owner with her husband, Al, of Maria's New Mexican Kitchen, answered "most definitely" when asked if the new convention center would have a positive impact on her restaurant.

"It will bring more conventions to Santa Fe, and people need to eat," she said. "It can only be great for the city."

"I think it's a wonderful thing," said Latricia Gonzales-McKosky, president of the Santa Fe Gallery Association. "It's another beautiful building in Santa Fe, and another reason for conventions to come to town."

Before the new center opened, "there was a void," Gonzales-McKosky added. "People didn't know where to go, and we couldn't do larger conventions, like Taste of Santa Fe."

In addition, "the galleries and the gallery association have been working wonderfully with Keith (Toler) and the CVB," she said.

Stefan Huber, the new manager of the Inn and Spa at Loretto, has only been on the job a couple of months and said he would be more qualified to comment on the center's significance a year down the road.

But he has already recognized that the facility "seems to be a very positive development for Santa Fe. We're looking forward to the center producing additional business for us."

Art Bouffard, executive director of the New Mexico Lodging Association, agreed, stating that Santa Fe should now be able to attract conventions that previously would have gone to Phoenix, Scottsdale or Tucson.

"Time will tell how big an impact it's going to have," he said. "But with more events planned and more people coming to Santa Fe, that's good for the city."

The Inn at Santa Fe, which is near Fashion Outlets of Santa Fe off Cerrillos Road, also welcomes the new center, even though its benefit may be indirect, said Yolanda Hoemann, director of sales.

"We will have to look for compression," when downtown properties may be booked out for a large convention and some visitors find themselves on the south end of town at The Inn at Santa Fe.

"What the downtown hotels can't handle, we will take," she said.

The Eldorado Hotel has a lot of meeting space itself, but the hotel welcomes the new center, expecting it to be able to provide the room needed by many groups for meetings and exhibits, general manager Alfred Matter said.

Matter is also hopeful that the center will bring more citywide meetings, involving the use of more than one hotel.

"I think all the downtown hotels are hoping to pick up more" large meetings," he said. "But right now (the CVB) hasn't booked a lot. On their Web site I see only two or three."

He added: "The center is busy, but it's not busy with big groups."

Contacted at his office, Toler said, "I would like to see more citywides, too," adding that not all of the groups that are planning to come have actually booked yet.

"We're just waiting for some groups to return their contracts with deposits," he said. "We have hold dates on their reservations. ... I'm very pleased where we are."

Toler expects sales to increase once a new sales team is in place.

"We've been interviewing since the end of July," he said. "We're looking for a director of sales and for one sales rep."

In the meantime, he added, he is handling the role of sales director, sales person, CVB director and more.

Toler has widespread support in the local hotel industry.

"We're very, very pleased to have a guy like Keith Toler to lead the organization," Verruni said. "He's one of the best in the travel industry."

Bouffard agreed. "Keith is one of the best guys in the country," he said. "Keith came at the very top of the individuals we wanted to hire. He's done a super job so far."

Kimble said it may take several years to see if the combination of a brand new convention center and a newish CVB director does for Santa Fe's convention business what is expected. But she is hopeful that both will work out.

Contact Bob Quick at 986-3011 or bobquick@sfnewmexican.com