When Grove City Area Chamber of Commerce opens its doors for business today, it will be in a new home, with nearly twice as much space as the Pine Street office the Chamber called home for more than a decade.

After renting office space from Citizens Bank for more than 10 years, and from HLR Anderson Insurance before that, the Chamber bought the building at 119 S. Broad St., Grove City, last spring.

"We needed to move," Mark Rath, acting president of the Chamber, said. "We looked at all the options, and when we weighed it all, the opportunity to own was similar to leasing someplace else. The financial cost of buying and renovating versus renting wasn't too different."

Since the time of purchase, the Chamber has been working with McKnight Construction to remodel the space.

"It's going to be more space and a nicer facility," he said.

"It's going to be wonderful," said Kay Dannels, Chamber assistant. "We'll have an office that is neat and tidy and professional, yet we'll have room to store things."

The South Broad Street office has basement space for storage. Until now, the Chamber has borrowed storage space in people's attics and in a room at Grove City Historical Society, as well as in nooks and crannies of its own office.

The larger conference room should enable the Chamber board to meet at its own facility. Prior to the move, the group met in the basement of Grace United Methodist Church.

Dannels looks forward to having a separate work room with shelves so that she doesn't have to dig through boxes to find items for welcome bags and relocation packets.

More space will mean better organization, said Chamber treasurer John Stillwaggon.

"The new office will give us a better, more professional appearance."

"It's a major improvement," said Valarie Phillips, Chamber vice president. "It's going to be very usable. The location will provide greater visibility."

The Chamber's new home also gives Grove City Area United Way better visibility. The United Way, Rath said, will rent office space in the back of the building.

"United Way is looking forward to having a visible downtown space," said Pat Ruley, president. "We've just sort of been in limbo, with no place to hang a shingle."

The organization has shuffled its working quarters several times in recent years.

Ruley added that the more prominent downtown location, which they hope to make their permanent home, will help the community see what the United Way does.

The United Way will take occupancy next week. Working alongside Leann Smith, interim director, Kathy McGill has been hired as assistant executive director.

As far as finding an executive director for the Chamber of Commerce, a position left vacant in late October when Mary Bowlin left to take a similar position in the Allegheny Valley, Rath said the position was advertised, and the board has been getting resumes. A committee will meet soon to begin the selection process.

Rath gives credit to Roger Towle for leading the committee which handled the building purchase, Bob McBryan, George Hagstrom, Steve Steigerwald and Eric Thomas for doing the drawings and floor plans, and Boyd Selby for managing the construction project with Don McKnight.