<p>A tourism center in downtown Franklin is inching closer to opening, but it won’t be as soon as initially thought.</p>
<p>In late summer, the Johnson County’s Convention, Visitors and Tourism Commission announced it was seeking to open a center in Franklin that would host 3-D exhibits that highlight tourist destinations throughout the county, and that tourism officials hoped would be a destination in and of itself.</p>
<p>A visitor center is listed as one of the county’s top two priorities in a long term plan for the commission, which has dubbed itself Festival Country Indiana. The Johnson County Council OK’d a spending plan in September that would allow the commission to spend about $400,000 from their coffers to get the center up and running at 66 S. Water St., downtown.</p>
<p>Now, improvements are being made to the building and commission members have worked to pick the first exhibits that will be featured.</p>
<p>The center will now open some time in February or early March, said Kenneth Kosky, Festival Country Indiana’s tourism director. The center was slated for a January opening when plans were announced.</p>
<p>Construction improvements to the historic building are costing about $153,000. The City of Franklin owns the building, and the commission is making improvements to it that will fit their needs. For example, an ADA-compliant bathroom and more conference room space are being added. The group is also making facade improvements to the building.</p>
<p>The tourism center’s sign will give a nod to the history of the building, which was a hardware store. The sign will take the same red hue and shape that adorned Deere’s Hardware, Kosky said.</p>
<p>Expo Design has worked with the commission to design the first exhibits, including a mini movie theater where visitors can watch a short film about Johnson County. An exhibit will also tell visitors how craft beer and wine is made while outlining breweries and wineries throughout the county, Kosky said.</p>
<p>Those exhibits and other smaller exhibits are expected to cost $68,258, Kosky said.</p>
<p>The center and its exhibits are a major part of the commission’s plan to make the tourism center a destination in Johnson County, which is a change from visitor center’s that have a rack of brochures, Kosky said.</p>
<p>“Ours is designed to be more of an entertainment experience,” he said.</p>
<p>All of the building improvements, the cost of the exhibits and other costs such as furniture and an Interstate 65 advertisement directing motorists to the center, are leaving the project under budget by more than $100,000, Kosky said.</p>
<p>“We are way under budget as we had hoped to be,” he said.</p>
<p>Tourism officials hope to spend the money on other projects that could promote tourism, such as an obstacle course at Johnson County Park and a project that would create a partnership with the Greenwood Parks and Recreation Department, Kosky said.</p>
<p>Johnson County’s Convention, Visitors and Tourism Commission is funded by an innkeeper’s tax, which is a tax paid by people who stay at hotels or motels in Johnson County.</p>
