The COBO Center is Detroit’s premier convention hall. A famous landmark and the largest place around downtown, the COBO Center is a dream place for business meetings and conferences.
I visited the COBO Center twice - first in 2008 for the North American Auto Show that is conducted here every year and the second time in 2019 invited to an event called Realize LIVE by Siemens.
The COBO Center is a great location, adjacent along the Detroit River with a large glass window to see the other side of the Canadian border, the view was very nice. Between the two visits, they had renovated the area rather nicely throughout. Plenty of reasonably priced parking slots are available on and near the property. The security upgrades are top-notch and the facility was spotless. The convention center is clean yet majestic at the same time.
There’s a huge food court with a pretty expansive assortment of food that is reasonably priced. Besides this, the staff and the housekeeping are great. If that was not enough there are two excellent hotels right across the street and several other hotels within just a few blocks.
They recently had a name change from COBO Hall to TCF Center. The name change was not needed, it will always be COBO. But it was important to acknowledge that the previous name reflected a shameful time in American history…slavery. Albert Cobo was a segregationist who served as mayor of Detroit from 1950 to 1957. The good residents of Detroit felt another name would be a better fit for a predominately black population.
If you wanna find the least used bathrooms, walk towards the river when you get in the COBO Center from the main entrance. There’s a place called the River View Ballroom that has very seldom used bathrooms compared to the main ones next to the main convention room doors. That’s my pro tip for the day L?L, though you may have to walk for long distances along hallways like the one shown in the picture below.
The COBO Center is huge and has large halls and convention areas that can host several hundred people at the same time.
The photo below is the view from the other side and will give an idea of how wide just one of its lunch area is.
Now, this one is mind-boggling.
The 8-lane freeway seen from one of its windows enters a tunnel under the COBO Center and guess where it takes you to… Canada.
The photo below shows the COBO Center and the freeway to Canada as seen from the suite on the 62nd floor of the Detroit Mariott hotel where I stayed.
The COBO Center is decorated on the interiors with colorful paintings and illuminated from the outside with very-very-wide dazzling displays.
Some more photos that are from a holiday extravaganza.
It was a farewell party and should give you the vibes of the outdoors.
Accessibility Features
Given the vast and reputed place that the COBO Center is, various accessibility features for the differently-able and also for the vision-impaired are provided all over.
Ramp access.
A wheelchair-accessible Entrance.
A wheelchair-accessible Parking.
Wheelchair-accessible Washroom/Toilet.
Wheelchair-accessible Elevators.
Tactile Paths for the Vision-Impaired.
Extra Large Displays for the Vision-Impaired.
What else to do in Michigan
While you are still in Michigan, especially in Detroit there are the top 10 recommended places:
5. GM Renaissance Center
6. COBO Center
7. Belle Isle, located in Detroit River
8. Detroit Public Library
9. Greenfield Village
10. Historic Fort Wayne
Have you ever been to a convention hall that was worth telling stories about?
I’d be interested in hearing a few.
Until then… Happy Guiding ?
This article is part of the Michigan #StateChallenge Meetup and Trivia Quiz hosted by @Kwiksatik and @Denise_Barlock and co-hosted by @Erna_LaBeau
