September 21, 2024
Business

Bar Harbor Chamber votes to purchase Trenton site

BAR HARBOR – The Bar Harbor Chamber of Commerce soon will be upwardly mobile after members voted Thursday to purchase the Acadia Information Center in Trenton and leave behind its offices in the basement of the town’s municipal building.

Kevin DesVeaux, president of the Chamber and owner of the West Street Cafe, was optimistic about the voting results and the move.

“I’m excited about it,” he said Friday. “It gives us the visibility we deserve now and allows us to better serve our guests. Right now, it’s kind of an embarrassment, being in the basement of the municipal building.”

The vote, which DesVeaux said an “overwhelming” majority of the Chamber’s more than 300 business members supported, will authorize the purchase of the $675,000 off-island property. Members also voted to allow the out-of-town businesses that advertise in the information center to become “business-sustaining” members of the Chamber. These nonvoting members will be able to continue to pay to advertise in the Trenton center, but would not pay for ad space in the Chamber’s guidebook, Web site, or its downtown location near the town pier.

“We’re happy we had the overwhelming support of the membership on this,” DesVeaux said.

The next step for the Chamber will be to acquire financing for the purchase. There is no specific timetable for the move, though the closing is slated for Oct. 17.

The purchase of the Route 3 property, which includes 65 parking spaces, 8.5 acres and an adjacent house, will be paid for by renting the kiosk and brochure advertising space, the president said.


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