'We are very excited'

MILTON — The new Santa Rosa Chamber building is moving ahead on construction after weather delays. SRC president, Donna Tucker, said chamber members are ready for construction to be completed and even more so for the big move.

Tucker said they are expecting a move in date in early spring of 2019. She said that the trusses should have gone on the building on Tuesday.

“We are still accepting donations,” she said. “We are approximately $120,000 away form going into this building debt free. We are very excited."

Tucker said it would be wonderful for the chamber to be able to move into the building completely without debt and she believes this is an achievable goal.

The chamber will be holding a "topping off" reception for all donors in late November at the new location to commemorate the near-completion of construction, Tucker said.

"That will be the final big thing we do [during construction] before the grand opening," she said. "It is going to be a lot of fun."

According to Tucker, contractor John Kiley will complete the building. The chamber hired Kiley after the former contractor resigned due to personal and health issues. Kiley is a Milton native who graduated from Milton High School. Tucker said Kiley was a student of the MHS Vocational Technology Program whose class helped build the original chamber building on Stewart Street.

This new building will be able to accommodate more functions, Tucker said previously at the groundbreaking.

"The new boardroom," she said, "will hold 50 people while the currently building's boardroom only holds 20." 

Tucker said Sport and Wheat CPA purchased the current building and will move in after the chamber relocates. The chamber currently pays rent to for use of the current facility.

This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: 'We are very excited'