NOW OPEN – Grand opening held for Chamber building
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Despite those few minor details, the dedication and ribbon cutting was held last Friday and a number of Chamber members and officials, along with representatives of local government, were on hand for the ceremonies.
Chrisawn says the building is now ready to fulfill it?s original promise as a hub to promote McMinnville and Warren County and help attract business and industry to the area, as well as a place hold community activities.
?It?s been a long journey, but we?re so excited,? Chrisawn said. ?We still have a couple of things to take care of, but we?re delighted to have our offices located in their permanent home. We had been using the community room as temporary offices, so we?re happy to have everybody back in their place so we can start organizing and working more efficiently.
?It?s mainly just the straightening, cleaning and organizing and moving things to where they belong,? Chrisawn said. ?But the building itself is complete.?
Chrisawn lauded project contractor Keith Bouldin for his contribution.
?We are so grateful to Keith Bouldin and all he has done for us,? Chrisawn said. ?All that he has given to us, and all that he has given up for us, because he has worked so long and so hard on this. The quality of work he does is second to none.?
Now that Chamber employees have moved back into their offices the large community room at the front of the building will be open for the community to use.
?It will be available for rental,? Chrisawn said. ?It is a community facility. It has ADA approved bathrooms. For dinners, using round tables, we can handle up to about 64 people. We can put somewhere around 84 in here seated in classroom style.?
Though there are still some tables and chairs to be delivered, Chrisawn said the room will be ready soon and those interested in scheduling events can contact the Chamber at 473-6611 to check for availability. Chrisawn says the cost hasn?t been determined yet.
?We still working on our rent schedule,? Chrisawn said. ?We don?t want it to be too expensive because we want people to use it. So that?s one thing we?re still trying to decide on.?
The building has a full kitchen which can be used to serve meals.
Bouldin, who has spearheaded the project from the beginning five years ago, says he is pleased with the results and all the time and effort has been worth it.
?It has been a long project and we?re really glad that it?s finished,? Bouldin said. ?It began with the Chamber wanting a great front door to the community. That?s what it?s been all about,? he added.
But everyone realized the existing building presented problems.
?We had a building up here that was in bad need of renovation,? Bouldin said, ?and it started out with a $75,000 remodeling budget. But the board got to talking about what they would really like to see in a chamber building.?
Things just kind of grew from there.
?We wanted to see a small business development center,? Bouldin said. ?We wanted a place for Main Street to have an office. We wanted to have new offices for the Chamber and offices for the IDB in the same building because they work so closely together. We wanted to have a community room with kitchen facilities. When we started talking about all the things we needed, then of course the building grew and cost quite a bit more money than we originally talked about.?
But once the plans were made, the community began to support it wholeheartedly, even donating a good portion of the labor and materials.
?This has been made possible by a lot of donations and a lot of hard work from a lot of people,? Bouldin said. ?I?m just glad it has turned out to be a great front door for Warren County.?