PORT TOWNSEND — After seven years of being tucked away next to a park-and-ride, the Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce is scheduled to set up space on a major street.
“This is the right move for us,” said Teresa Verraes, the chamber’s executive director.
“We need to capture more of the interest in Port Townsend,” she said.
“If people can’t find us, they won’t have the information they need to come back.”
Since 2008, the chamber and the visitors center has occupied a 1,344-square-foot manufactured building at 44 12th St., adjacent to the Haines Street Park and Ride.
Around the first week of May, it will nearly double its space with a move to 2,500 square feet at 2409 Jefferson St.
Along with the chamber and the visitor center, the building will house Team Jefferson and provide space to the Small Business Development Council, the Olympic Development Council and Jefferson County Homebuilders with the hope of creating a one-stop shop for economic information.
“When I came here four years ago, one of my goals was to get us all into a place that was more visible,” Verraes said.
“Being next to the park-and-ride was a great concept but it didn’t really pan out, and for the last few years I was looking for the right location.”
The motivation to proceed at this time resulted from the sale of the park-and-ride building to Jefferson Transit as a new customer service center and the relocation of the Northwind Arts Center to a downtown location.
This created the opportunity for the chamber to take on the old Northwind space and bring in economic partners to create a center for tourism and business.
The space is now being remodeled, with the two large rooms carved up into smaller spaces for offices and conference rooms.
One side will house the visitors center as well as a Jefferson County-specific shop selling local goods that will be open seven days a week as a resource for people who are driving into town.
The other section will contain offices for Verraes, Team Jefferson CEO Peter Quinn and events director Laura Brackenridge as well as a conference room and an open space that can be used as a classroom or to host events.
“We will be able to support each other under one roof,” Verraes said.
“We have all worked really hard to collaborate and not duplicate efforts, with the new space we will be able to communicate much better and will be able to direct people to where they need to go.”
Verraes estimated the cost of the renovations at about $100,000, subsidized by the $131,000 that Jefferson Transit paid the city for the building.
Transit plans to move out of its present location at 1615 W Sims Sims Way, moving customer service to the park and ride and administration and bus services to a 13,500-square-foot, $6.8 million headquarters at 63 Four Corners Road, southwest of the city limit.
The move to the new facility is scheduled for June, according to County Commissioner David Sullivan, a Transit Board member.
Verraes said the goal is to get the new business center operational prior to the Port Townsend Rhododendron Festival the week of May 11.
An open house would follow sometime in June.
“We want to have some time to unpack and get everything up and running before we invite everyone in,” she said.
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
