Earth-moving work underway at site of new chamber HQ
Grading work was underway on Monday at the site for the new Anderson County Chamber of Commerce headquar- ters building on North Charles G. Seivers Boulevard at West Weaver Street in Clinton. (photo:G. Chambers Williams III )
This follows a symbolic groundbreaking that was held at the site on Sept. 10, with a long row of chamber officials and special guests using shovels to turn dirt in front of an audience.
But on Monday, serious earth-moving equipment was on the site, along with the construction office trailer of Johnson and Gaylon, contractors for the project.
On Sept. 16, the city of Clinton issued a building permit to the chamber for the $3.9 million, 7,450 square-foot building, which will be the first headquarters ever built and owned by the chamber, which was started in 1931.
“We are thrilled to see the project moving forward,” chamber President Rick Meredith said.
“This new building represents our commitment to the community and our mission to continue supporting the success of our local businesses,” he said.
“The foundation work is just the beginning, and we look forward to watching the building take shape.”
During the groundbreaking ceremony in September, Meredith noted that the chamber is 93 years, and is excited to be building a home of its own.
“Now we’re going to go 90 more years,” he told the assembled crowd.
Land for the building was donated to the chamber late last year by Joe Hollingsworth Jr., CEO of The Hollingsworth Companies.
It is the second site chosen for the new chamber headquarters.
“The chamber has taken an increasingly more-powerful position in the community,” Hollingsworth said at groundbreaking.
“And it’s hard for us not to recognize the change,” he said.
“Now, they still do the ribbon-cuttings, but dang, they work hard to get new businesses in here. They work really hard to grow the existing businesses,” Hollingsworth said.
“This is just a reflection of what the community is doing,” he said. “But they’re leading the way.”
Also on hand to speak at the groundbreaking event was Clinton Realtor and auctioneer Bear Stephenson, whom Meredith revealed at the event had donated $1 million toward the cost of the new headquarters.
“It takes a community to make things happen,” Stephenson said.
That was the second groundbreaking event for the new headquarters.
It originally was set to be built on a 1.17-acre tract on North Main Street at North Hicks Street.
The chamber bought the previously announced site on North Main Street in June 2022, and held a groundbreaking ceremony there in November 2022, but never actually began construction.
Earlier this year, the city of Clinton bought that tract from the Chamber of Commerce, and has since turned it into a new downtown parking lot.
It’s also being used by parents dropping off and picking up kids at Clinton Elementary School.
The new headquarters site, which has an official address of 107 East Washington Ave., is next door to O’Reilly Auto Parts to the north and Y-12 Federal Credit Union, across West Weaver Street, to the south.
Hollingsworth officially donated the land to the Anderson County Chamber Foundation, which has been leading the fundraising drive for the new headquarters.
The one-story headquarters building “will include a diversified room with up-to-date technology for training and videoconferencing, available for chamber members, nonprofits, and community partners,” a Chamber of Commerce announcement said in November.
“A welcoming lobby, a catering kitchen for events, and offices for chamber staff and Anderson County Economic Development Association are included in the building’s plans. MBI Companies, Inc., an architectural, engineering and interiors firm with offices in Knoxville and Chattanooga, designed the building and serves as project manager,” it said.
The chamber paid the city $10,900 for the building permit, the largest permit in terms of total building cost issued so far by the city this year.
The original plans for the headquarters building also included a section to house the Anderson County Tourism Council. But that office has since been moved to a different location.