By Tim Beimal

The New London Area Chamber of Commerce (NLACC) has moved from its old office at 301 E. Beacon Avenue to its new location at 420 N. Shawano Street. The Chamber now occupies the former Kwik Trip building, which was extensively renovated.

“We were able to renovate this facility using monies gained through fundraisers and membership investments,” explained NLACC Director Laurie Shaw. “The building was donated to the city, but the Chamber pays for all of the renovation and operating costs. Taxpayer money was not used for this project. The Chamber and Youth Baseball League have a 25 year lease on the building with the city.”

Shaw explained that the old chamber building, located in Franklin Park, was only about 800 square feet. The new facility is 2,400 square feet, and the Chamber will use 1,900 square feet of that space, while the New London Youth Baseball League will use 500 square feet for their concession stand area.

“The larger office space will allow us to have an information center that is open 24 hours. It’s also nice that we will have a conference room available for chamber members,” Shaw said. “We’re also going to install a digital display board outside to promote area events. Additionally, we will have a large community map that shows various recreation and dining locations. This will be nice for people vacationing here that want to find something fun to do.

“One of the biggest bonuses about the new location is the traffic flow,” Shaw commented. “This building is highly visible and has a traffic flow of about 11,000 cars per day. We’re very confident that this will help us have a stronger presence in the community.”

Shaw said the Chamber worked with members whenever possible during the remodeling phase. The chamber board was able to select many local businesses to complete construction, electrical, and other renovation needs.

“If there were no chamber members specializing in a specific construction category, we asked our builder to try to keep business as local as possible,” said Shaw.

Shaw said the move to the new office began June 12, and was scheduled to be completed by June 20.

“We’re getting situated,” she said. “It’s nice that we have a small window of time where we’re not really busy so that we can handle the move.”

The Chamber will hold an Open House from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday, June 28, during Summer Fling. The New London Youth Baseball League will hold a cookout during those same hours.

“We want to acknowledge all the local businesses that we worked with during this process,” Shaw stated. “It’s great to have so much quality right here in New London.