The Sunnyvale Sun

News

Chamber of commerce gets new address

By Stephen Baxter

After nearly a half-century of supporting entrepreneurs at the little green-and-white building at 101 W. Olive Avenue, the Sunnyvale Chamber of Commerce plans to move its offices on Sept. 1.

The Chamber has more than doubled its staff to seven in the last year, and there are now 735 Chamber members. The new space at 260 S. Sunnyvale Ave., Suite 4, is 3,200 square feet, larger than the current building. It will include more street parking and offices for small-business owners to rent by the hour.

Suzi Blackman, Sunnyvale Chamber of Commerce president and CEO, said the Chamber's conference room is constantly booked, and small-business owners need somewhere to meet clients other than a noisy Starbucks.

"It's just much more professional," Blackman said of the new rental offices. "I think it allows us to do what we should be doing: Helping small businesses," she said.

The "incubator" offices will provide home-based companies with a desk, receptionist, phone and fax. Blackman said several members have expressed interest in renting an office for two hours a month for 12 months.

The Chamber has a long history in the city. It was founded in 1906 to help local companies grow and to support community events, and its members now range from New York Life Insurance to the Brass Rail strip club.

In1956, Sunnyvale city leaders gave the Chamber about $60,000 to construct a building on the corner of Olive and Murphy avenues. It opened in 1959, and in 1965, the city reduced the monthly rent from $125 to $25 so the Chamber would deed the building to the city, according to city documents.

In the late 1990s, the Chamber spent tens of thousands of dollars on renovation, and the $25 rent remained. In May 2000, city officials decided the rent should be more market-based, and the Chamber and the city negotiated a $500 monthly rent for the first year and an adjustable rent for four more years based on the Chamber's revenue and the going rent for similar offices. The chamber wound up paying roughly $1,000 a month.

"At the time I was absolutely scared, but now looking back on it, it was the right thing to do," Blackman said of the rent increase. "Because now we're aware of what things cost."

It is unclear what the city will do with the building, which is near some professional offices and a residential neighborhood.

At the new building, which is across from the Macy's parking lot, a white Sunnyvale Chamber of Commerce banner was taped to the window on June 11.

Chamber member Kuehne Construction plans to install new floors, lights and other improvements. The space was used by an employment agency, and it now will have an executive office, conference room, break room and the new rental offices.

The Chamber's phone number will remain 408.736.4971.

The old office was so crowded that workers were using a computer set up in a storage room. Kate Warren, events and media manager for the Chamber, said parking on Olive also has been a problem.

"We're excited," she said. "We have so outgrown this place."