The George R. Brown Convention Center, located on the eastern edge of downtown Houston, and currently being expanded, will have 1,850,000 gross square feet of space upon completion in 2003.  Currently, the mix of local and convention business traffic is 60/40.  It is expected that by 2005 the proportion of local events will fall to approximately 30% and convention and national visitors will increase to 70%.  In addition, there will be a renewed emphasis on keeping delegates within the downtown Houston area rather than busing them to other areas such as the Galleria.