Joe Whalen in his office in the new Lehigh Acres Chamber of Commerce Welcome Center in the Lehigh Towne Center at 25 Homestead Rd.

In early December, the Lehigh Acres Chamber of Commerce and Welcome Center will hold an open house for the community. Even though it has moved from its old home at 4109 Lee Blvd. to 25 Homestead Rd. in the Lehigh Towne Center.

“Thanks to everyone, we finally got everything moved over here,” said Joe Whalen, the CEO and president of the Chamber. “I couldn’t believe how much we had in that small house. A lot of stuff was in a storage shed behind the house, too.”

Whalen said the new location is on the north end of the shopping center facing Joe’s Diner. It has a large outdoor front terrace and is in a part of the former Lehigh Discount Furniture store.

The Chamber lucked out as it had its own architect who is also chairman of the board of directors of the Chamber. Edd Weiner, a community activist in Lehigh, drew the plans and oversaw the work inside the 2,400 square foot office.

“We’re double the size and more than we were at the old Chamber office,” Whalen said.

Volunteers help to man the office at the new Chamber of Commerce office.

Jim Phebus, who is retired and once owned Denny Travel, a tourism business, is one of the Chamber’s 20 volunteers. He usually works on Saturday mornings.

“We have got a beautiful office. I think the people who stop here will enjoy being in here. It is bright and we have information about sites all over Southwest Florida and we have information about Lehigh Acres … anything they want to know,” he mused.

Phebus remembers when the Chamber opened up what is now being referred as “the old office” more than 25 years ago.

“We bought a house and turned the front living room into the reception area, redid the inner walls, kept our kitchen, but modernized it. Another bedroom in the small house became a small conference room where members of the board met up until about 10 years ago.

The Chamber needed the space for another office when an assistant director was hired and also a place was needed for the office equipment, such as computers and copiers and the like.

Chamber sign atop the new Welcome Center at 25 Homestead Rd. in the Lehigh Towne Center

Phebus said he was president of the Chamber when it moved into the house not far from the Gunnery Rd. intersection. He also said he put up collateral for the Chamber to make the purchase.

“I thought we were really something then that we had our own office. Now look how much the Chamber has grown.

“I was glad to put up my house as collateral because I knew Lehigh was going to grow and it has and when the downturn of the economy turns around, growth will continue with all the people up north who want to retire to a small town like Lehigh,” Phebus said.

Whalen, the present head of the Chamber, likes the new location for a couple of reasons, he said.

“Now I can make visits to many of our members where before, it was such a long drive to come to the downtown core of Lehigh. Most of our members are in the downtown area,” he said.

“And secondly, now we have room. We were cramped up in the old location and when Season was here, we had people standing on top of each other,” he laughed.

Whalen’s office is in the back where he can work more privately than before when his office was open to the reception area and all the noise and conversation with visitors.

Now there are also offices for Inke Baker, the assistant executive director, who before shared her office with copy machines, piles of stored items and computers.

And there’s an office for David Myers, the Chamber’s able recruiter who sells and retains memberships for the Chamber.

There is also an office for the new Office of Economic Development near the front. It is also where Edd Weiner and those on his committee meet regularly to work at bringing business and industry to Lehigh.

In most towns the size of Lehigh, believed to be somewhere between 60,000 and 80,000, the community is incorporated and the city has a department of economic development.

Weiner and others would like to see Lehigh grow in a matter that benefits Lehigh Acres.

The owner of his own architectural firm in Naples, Weiner has had to drive back and forth for some time now. He believes Lehigh should offer a friendly business climate and the Chamber will be a part of that role. He will be at his Economic Office on most days.

The Chamber is hosting an outside event which takes place in December sometime after the grand opening of the offices, although the Chamber is open for business now.

The Chamber is holdings its first International Holiday Market beginning Dec. 10 and continuing to Saturday, Dec. 12.

It will be held on the outside side lawn adjacent to the new Chamber office and Welcome Center on the grass. Weiner has had large boulders moved to make room for the event.

Styled after the traditional holiday markets of Europe, the event will feature arts, crafts, handmade holiday gifts and decorations, as well as ethnic food and drink.

The three-day event will be open Dec. 10 and 11 from 4 to 10 p.m. and from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 12.

In addition to live entertainment, each evening the Holiday Market will feature “Waltzing Waters” – a colorful display of water jets that will dance to music.

“The people are really going to enjoy that,” Weiner said.

Organizations, businesses and individuals are invited to reserve on the few remaining spots to showcase and sell their arts, crafts and gifts. Space was still available last week for food and drink vendors who specialize in European faire. Anyone who may be interested in taking part should call 369-3322.

Whalen says if you have a spot, you keep our own profits.

When you enter the new Chamber Office and Welcome Center, you will be greeted by volunteers who can answer questions about Lehigh and nearby places of interest.

Copies of newspapers are at the Welcome Center as well as pamphlets and fliers about Southwest Florida.

“Some times people will stop and ask us where their lot is located,” said Phebus, who has lived in Lehigh for most of his life, “long before there was a stoplight in Lehigh,” he likes to say.

“People come in and say their parents bought a lot here and they have never seen it and now it belongs to them and they ask if we can direct them to it,” Phebus said.

The colors are all pastel in the office. In the front reception area is a circular wall and in front of it are racks of useful information for anyone interested in the area.

There’s also a much larger meeting room at the new office. In the recent past, the board of directors has been forced to meet in other locations.

There is also a kitchen at the new office where coffee can be prepared and other foods for visitors. And there’s what they are calling a media room where the copy machine and other equipment are situated.

Finding the new Lehigh Acres Chamber of Commerce’s Welcome Center is easy, too, not only because the Lehigh Towne Center is one of most active business centers in downtown Lehigh, but because of the quick cooperation of the county’s Department of Transportation.

“They moved the big highway sign on Lee Blvd. to Homestead Rd. directing people to our office,” said Whalen. “And they said they would put up directional signs on Lee and Homestead directing people here,”

“I think we have a great location and all of us are very happy and we invite any of our members to stop by and we’ll give them a tour,” Whalen said.

The old office on Lee Blvd. was sold by the Chamber to Richard and Mary St. Dennis, who are opening their Signs in One Day and LA Awards business there.

The Chamber’s open house will be announced in The Citizen for the public to visit and tour the new Chamber office and Welcome Center.

The Chamber is leasing the Welcome Center and office space from Eugen and Conchita Borosch, owners of the Lehigh Towne Centre. There are about 400 or more members of the Chamber and members are active on various committees.

The membership meets on the last Tuesday of each month for a luncheon and guest speaker. And in January, the Chamber will install a new board of directors and may celebrate the Chamber’s birthday.