The Lawrence Holidome is getting a $1 million makeover.

Bruce Pham, the Holidome’s general manager, said work began last month on a project that would renovate all 106 rooms of the hotel by mid-September. The renovation includes new carpeting, wall coverings, beds, ceilings, lamps, drapes and 25-inch color televisions to replace the current 19-inch models.

“It won’t be the old drab, dreary colors you are used to seeing in a 20-year-old hotel,” Pham said. “They’ll really be brand new rooms. We’re gutting pretty much everything.”

The hotel, which was built in the early 1980s, is staying open during the renovation as construction crews work on about 50 rooms at a time.

Pham said the hotel’s parent company, Atlanta-based Lodgian, Inc., decided the renovations were necessary for the hotel to compete with several newer hotels that have been built in Lawrence during the past five years.

“I’d say it is the most extensive renovation we have done since the hotel was built,” Pham said. “And it is needed. Our product had gotten to the point where we couldn’t be competitive.”

Pham said the age and condition of the hotel’s rooms had led some organizations to remove the Holidome from their list of potential convention sites.

After the renovation, they aim to become competitive again.

In particular, Laurie Kendall, regional director of sales and catering for the Holidome, said the hotel hoped to land more business from statewide associations. The hotel recently added the new position of area association sales manager to focus on attracting that business.

“Our goal is to have a 30 percent increase in our association business,” Kendall said. “But it will be a couple of years before that happens because these associations plan their events a year or two in advance.”

Troy Roberts, convention and sports sales manager for the Lawrence Convention and Visitors Bureau, said he believed the project would be a boost to the city’s convention business.

“It will help immensely,” Roberts said. “We’re out of the loop on some of the bigger conventions in the state because of the condition the Holidome has been in.”

With 17,000-square-feet of meeting space, the Holidome, located at 200 McDonald Drive, is Lawrence’s largest convention center. Pham estimates it can host conventions of 800 to 1,000 people.

No one was able to estimate how much new spending a 30 percent increase in association business would add to the city’s economy, but Roberts said it would be “significant.”

“Convention business is always good business,” Roberts said. “It brings in people to shop, eat and spend money that they otherwise wouldn’t be spending in Lawrence. And I hear a lot that Lawrence draws the best crowds for these conventions because people feel like there is a lot to do.”

Pham said he was hired three months ago as the Holidome’s new general manager because he had a reputation of overseeing renovations of “distressed” properties.

Lodgian, Inc. is trying to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy after filing for the protection late last year. Pham said the company expected to exit bankruptcy by the end of the year.

He said the fact the company has chosen to renovate the Lawrence hotel while it is in bankruptcy is a positive sign about the facility’s future.

“It shows they’re confident about our ability to rebound, and it shows they have good expectations for the Lawrence market,” Pham said.