The city of Ashland held a ceremonial groundbreaking for a new conference center on Tuesday. The future center will have around 20,000 square feet of space for the city to host meetings and conferences. City officials hope it brings tourists and boosts the economy. Ashland Mayor Matt Perkins says it’ll help the Kentucky city be more appealing to industry. “We’re the largest city in Eastern Kentucky, and we’re the only city left that doesn’t have a conference center in this area. So it’s for us to be competitive,” Perkins said. Perkins says they’ve seen interest from businesses like UK King’s Daughters Medical Center and Marathon Petroleum. “Both of those businesses, their CEOs, their plant managers, have all expressed to me that the only way they can continue to grow and sell this community is to be able to have conferences,” Perkins said. The center will cost a little over $35 million to build. It’s expected to be fully built in late 2027. ** WEKU is working hard to be a leading source for public service, and fact-based journalism. Monthly supporters are the top funding source for this growing nonprofit news organization. Please join others in your community who support WEKU by making your donation. The post Ashland breaks ground on future conference center appeared first on The Lexington Times.