<P> The Ernest N. Morial Convention Center is in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States . The lower end of building one is located 1,640 feet (500 m) upriver from Canal Street on the banks of the Mississippi River . It is named after former Mayor of New Orleans Ernest N. Morial . </P> <P> As of 2006, it has about 1.1 million square feet (102,000 m2) of exhibit space, covering almost 11 blocks, and over 3 million square feet (280,000 m2) of total space . The front of the main building is 1 kilometer long . </P> <P> The center was planned starting in 1978 . It is the 5th - largest facility of its kind in the United States, and as of early 2005 was the second - busiest . The first portion of the building was constructed as part of the 1984 Louisiana World Exposition; a series of additions in subsequent decades expanded the center further upriver . The complex was named in honor of Ernest N. Morial, the city's first African American mayor, in 1992 . In 2008, the Center was renamed the New Orleans Morial Convention Center in order to emphasize its New Orleans location . </P>

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