A new Visitor’s Center will be opening up in the Chautauqua County Chamber of Commerce‘s offices in Downtown Jamestown soon.
Chamber Director of Marketing Communications and Governmental Affairs Sheila Webster said the Chamber is working with the Chautauqua County Visitor’s Bureau and the Gebbie Foundation on the project. She said it’s something they had planned to do when the Chamber first moved into the building in Fall of 2019, “Because we’re right across the street from the Lucy-Desi Museum, we already are in a highly visible location, so we feel like we are primed here to be an information center. We’re not going to make people walk all over town to look for information, or look for a street map, or look for any kind of assistance they might need. We’ll be right here in a very visible way.”
Webster said they have brochure racks already at the Chamber and they also have personnel, which is key, “We have staff that can help to direct people and answer questions and so if someone is coming from out of town, if they really don’t know which way they should be going, or what else they can be seeing, or visiting while they’re here we want to be sure they understand what’s available.”
Gebbie Foundation Executive Director Greg Edwards said having a Visitor’s Center downtown was part of original and current Urban Design Plan. He said the Gebbie, which owns the building, will be assisting with facade work and interior work, “I’ve met with Bemus Bay Architects on a number of occasions and we have a draft plan for the new facade on the outside of the building. And I’ve been working closely with the Chamber and the Visitor’s Bureau on how to make some modifications to the interior of the building to make it more welcoming.”
Part of the interior work will be to renovate a bathroom to create a public restroom for the Center. Edwards said this work will happen this year with the facade work likely to be completed late this year or by early 2022.
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