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ChamberWorks Special "Fairfield Chamber of Construction" Edition
» Pardon Our Dust
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Pardon Our Dust
Big things are happening at the Chamber this month, right here in our offices.
We're remodeling, expanding into the office next door and trying to do our usual Chamber business all at the same time, so it's a bit of a madhouse here: The phones are acting wonky, our fax machine is choking on the dust, and coversations are punctuated by nail guns (bang!) and power saws. Plus a monster-sized crane just plunked a new air conditioning system on the roof.
But even with all of this going on, the Chamber is open for business. Just try not to mind the mess if you come by to visit.
When the dust clears we'll have an expanded reception area, a conference room, a new wireless network and lots of storage space. Storage here, storage there -- you can never have too much storage space. We'll have room to fit in a new full-time membership development person, and Patricia won't have to share her office with a crazy-eyed computer geek ever again.
Chamber member Solo Construction is doing the construction work, and Ash Creek Enterprises will be installing our wireless network.
Stay tuned for updates -- and more pictures -- as the place starts taking shape.
More photos from Pardon Our Dust
Greetings From Hammerville
Midway through the second week of construction, work on the Chamber's new and improved offices is zooming ahead. All of the walls are up, the new A/C system switched on just a minute ago -- woo-hoo! -- and the carpet people and painters are lined up for next week. Life is good.
It's been an adventure getting here. The phone company guy looked at the wiring (which was probably older than he is) and decided to rip it out and start over. But thanks to his heroic efforts all of our phones are working again, and we have room to add even more lines someday. Even the fax machine sounds happy when it does that modem-gurgling thing.
Meanwhile, the old carpeting was ripped out from under desks, computers, file cabinets and the aforementioned phone company guy without disturbing anything. Not bad, not bad.
The new doors don't have knobs yet, and it's still hard to picture how this is all going to turn out when you have computers and assorted furniture stuffed into the future conference room. But you can already sense how the new layout -- designed by Michael Armstrong of Design One LLC -- changes the dynamics of the place. Patricia's office is staying more or less the same, but everything else has been transformed. And that's without the new carpeting and paint scheme.
We're optimistic that the bulk of the work will be done by the end of July. Certain things like the kitchen and the conference room will take more time, but overall it should feel more like a working office than a hard-hat zone.
More photos from Greetings from Hammerville
Stuff You Didn't Know About the Chamber
After two solid weeks of frenetic activity, we find ourselves at a lull in the renovation work. The basic construction is done, and the carpeting has been pushed back to the first week in August. So aside from the electrician (who's banging out new outlets even as I write this) and the occasional A/C guy, we have the place more or less to ourselves this week.
While we're wait for the madness to resume, here are a few facts about the Chamber that you probably didn't know:
The Chamber office has been at 1597 Post Road for 33 years. I'm betting that some of our members weren't even born yet when we moved here from our previous location, across the street from the Post Office. (And just in case you're wondering, a certain long-time Chamber employee does remember working in the old place.) You'd think the building would be named after us by now.
If you've visited the Mission Statement page, you know that the Chamber was founded in 1946, almost 60 years ago. In other words, we've been in this same building for more than half of our existence.
When we first arrived here in 1972, we occupied the office at the end of the hall, right next to the bathrooms. Sometime around 1984 we moved a few feet to the east when the larger, middle office had a vacancy. Ten years later we picked ourselves up and moved yet again to our current spot at the head of the stairs, which is the largest of the offices here on the second floor -- and we should know, because we've seen 'em all.
By now it would seem we'd reached the limits of this place, that we'd have to look elsewhere for room to grow. And for the last few years we've been doing just that, looking. (As far back as the mid-80s we expressed an interest in renting space in the Burr Mansion.) But when the middle office opened up again this summer, we saw an opportunity to expand right where we are. The incredible elastic Chamber office does it again.
Which brings us up to the present moment and the ladder teetering over Linda's desk. (Somebody tell me when it's safe to look, OK?)
So for three decades (and counting) it's been a steady progression to bigger and better things, even if the view out the front window hasn't changed much. If the trend holds up, we should have annexed the last remaining office by 2015 or so -- and then we can start working on the downstairs. Heh heh heh...
We'll get them to name this place after us yet.
The story continues: Wall to Wall and Wireless