CAMDEN — When visitors and summer residents arrive back in Camden this spring, as long as they don't arrive until near the end of May, their first visit inside the Penobscot Bay Area Chamber of Commerce Visitor Center on the public landing will be a pleasant introduction to more space, better lighting and an overall fresh face.

Chamber of Commerce leaders this week announced plans for interior renovations to the facility at 2 Public Way, which is owned by the town of Camden and leased to the Chamber annually for $1.

The 975-square-foot single-story commercial building may be small, but it boasts an assessed value of $3.243 million and welcomes thousands of visitors to Camden and the region each year. Staffed by mostly volunteers seven days a week in the summer, visitors from around the world drop in to ask where they can find an inn with a fireplace in the room, how to access trails to Maiden’s Cliff, how to go for a sail on a schooner and what's the best place for a lobster roll. They also seek directions to Acadia National Park and Union Fairgrounds, and some just need to find a taxi to Knox County Regional Airport.

The visitor center renovation project will involve removal of interior walls to expand the main member display room from the current 360-square-feet to more than 600 square feet, eliminating two unused offices to the rear of the current member display area. New flooring will be laid, and new lighting fixtures and display fixtures will also be added.

"When we merged four years ago, we doubled the size of the organization and tried to fit twice as many rack cards in this space as we had before," said Chamber Executive Director Tom Peaco. "And the unused offices there are now storage more than actual office space, so it made more sense to utilize the space better and spruce it up."

Peaco said that Chamber leaders collaborated with town officials and members of a design team from the Camden Downtown Network Board in recent weeks to gain support for the renovations.

The Downtown Network Board comprises members of Camden's Community & Economic Development Advisory Committee, the Camden Downtown Business Group Executive Committee and the executive director of the Chamber of Commerce. Camden's development director also sits on the board, with additional support from the town manager and town planner/code enforcement officer, as well as a liaison from the Select Board.

Peaco said that including the varied community representatives, as well as investing in the space itself were both important to show the community that the Chamber had a long-term commitment to stay in Camden.

"We are most grateful for the long term favorable lease provided by the Town of Camden, and want to demonstrate our long term commitment to having a presence in downtown Camden. We're excited about putting a fresh face on this important facility for our region," said Erick Anderson, president of the Board of Directors for the Chamber, in a news release.

The Chamber's Board has authorized spending up to $20,000 on the renovations. And the funding for the renovations is coming from proceeds of the recent sale of two parcels of property in Rockport, which were gifted to the Chamber on Dec. 29, 2014, by Green House LLC, a company owned by Bettina Doulton of Lincolnville.

Those properties included a circa 1850s cape home at the corner of routes 90 and 1 that sits on 1.5 acres of land. The home and parcel were assessed at $156,800 at the time of the gift. The other property, consisting of 4.15 acres of land behind the home and its parcel, was then assessed for tax purposes at $94,800.

Peaco said the two parcels were sold to Stuart Smith for $220,000.

When asked if the properties went to market, Peaco said, no.

"We approached Stuart first, as he was the abutter, to see if he had an interest in the properties and he did," said Peaco.

He added that no other offers for the properties came forward before the deal was closed with Smith.

Peaco said that after he took over as executive director at the Chamber last year, one of the first things he needed to do was to figure out "what to do with this nice gift" [from Doulton].

"We went through a lot of due diligence, but found that the property had a steep driveway, there was a lot of ledge there and the house wasn't suitable," said Peaco. "We determined that the best use for us would be to sell it and hang on to the proceeds."

Peaco said that board members spoke with Dalton, and she told them that the property belonged to the Chamber now, so they were free to do what they wanted or needed to with it.

"After making the determination to sell the parcels, the board decided to restrict the proceeds for capital and infrastructure projects only, to honor the intent of the gift," said Peaco.

Peaco said the Chamber plans to begin work by early April, and re-open the renovated facility by mid-May. After soliciting bids from all local contractors who were Chamber members, New Leaf Construction of Rockport was selected for the project.

The Chamber is currently seeking a temporary location in downtown Camden to maintain a presence while the public landing location is closed for renovations.

The Chamber also maintains an office and visitor center at One Park Drive in Rockland, and plans to remain in that space as well, with no changes or renovations planned.

"We're fortunate to have two great locations that serve our members, our communities and our visitors very well," said Peaco in a press release. "Our future vision continues to include having a presence in the downtown areas of both of our largest communities. We think both locations are serving us well at this time."

Related stories:

• Lincolnville businesswoman donates Rockport land to Penobscot Bay Regional Chamber of Commerce

• Penobscot Bay Regional Chamber of Commerce hires new executive director

Reach Editorial Director Holly S. Edwards at hollyedwards@penbaypilot.com and 207-706-6655.