Thanks to recent and projected growth, the Arlington Chamber of Commerce moved into a much larger office in town’s historic Depot Square earlier this week.

Projects such as Ford Motor Company’s BlueOval City and Helen of Troy Limited distribution center east of the town are among the entities expected to contribute to interest in the area. Tonia Howell, the Arlington chamber director, noted that the organization has been in its present office on 12025 Walker almost a decade.

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“Our move represents the growth that we have experienced and our getting ready for additional growth in our area due to BlueOval City,” Howell said of the new location at 6280 Chester St., Suite 101.

The chamber celebrated its 25-year anniversary last year.

The organization was formed in the mid-1990s with a two-person volunteer staff in the back of a home. Since then, the chamber has evolved into a force in Arlington under Howell’s leadership. In the nine-plus years with her at the helm, the chamber membership has grown from 88 to more than 330.

“I think this is a wonderful opportunity for the chamber,” Bob Wilson, president of the chamber’s board, said. “It created an opportunity for us to remain in the historic Depot Square where we had previously had our office, and it gets the chamber poised to be able to continue to provide the level of service to the vast constituency we’re continuing to grow.”

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The additional office space will allow the chamber, as well as elected officials, to more easily host meetings with new businesses and those interested in moving or expanding to the town.

“I do believe that success comes from the appropriate amount of planning and preparation,” Wilson said, adding: “The last thing we wanted to do was get in a situation where the growth came, and we had limited opportunities to get into a space that met the needs of the chamber.” 

Arlington Mayor Mike Wissman thinks the town has a great partnership with the chamber.

“Under Tonia’s leadership, our chamber has continued to grow, and with everything going on around us, we don’t see that stopping whatsoever,” Wissman said. “We consider the chamber a branch of our town government even though they aren’t officially a part of the town government. They do a lot of the legwork that we can’t or don’t have time to do.”

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The move this week also gives the chamber the needed space to hire additional staff.

“We won’t do it right away, but it is part of the plan as we continue to grow,” Howell said. “There’s no way we could’ve hired additional people in our previous space.”

The chamber’s monthly membership luncheons have grown in size over the years and now regularly welcome more than 100 attendees, and it hosts a variety of community events each year like the Taste Around Arlington, the Arlington 5K (coming up on Sept. 10), and the BBQ Fall Fest in October.