Chamber to call old welcome center home

The Boulder City Chamber of Commerce CEO has big plans for the organization’s new location and hopes to have it open and ready for business in October.

CEO Jill Rowland-Lagan said the organization is moving into the old Nevada welcome center, 100 Nevada Way, that was previously operated by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitor Authority.

The new location provides more space for parking than its previous one in downtown Boulder City.

Rowland-Lagan said she plans to provide parking spaces for recreational vehicles so the drivers can stop and get information about things to do in town. She also said she is researching installing a solar-powered charging station.

“The timing of COVID hitting in the middle of the chamber relocating has spurred other happenings that led to things working out brilliantly in the end,” said Rowland-Lagan. “We are excited to be relocating to the welcome center and look forward to continuing to help the businesses rebuild after COVID and be prepared to welcome back guests to our great city.”

Before the chamber can move in, however, there are some maintenance issues that need to be fixed.

Rowland-Lagan said there is water damage throughout the building and a security system needs to be installed, but she is hoping they can move everything in by the end of September and hold a grand opening in October.

They also plan to have digital kiosks downtown and at their new building to help visitors in both places.

When the LVCVA announced in April 2019 that the welcome center would be closing, she said she started exploring having a satellite office there to support their main location. After the center closed July 1, 2019, the chamber also inherited its informational brochures about the area.

“It’s almost been 18 months since we first started working on this. … As things rolled forward, I’m very glad we did that,” she said. “Because if we didn’t, we’d be in a really big pickle.”

Her plans for the satellite office changed when the owner of the chamber’s downtown location sold the building and told the organization it needed to vacate because the new owner did not want it there.

There were other leads for new locations that ultimately fell through, including a proposal for a temporary home in the old Los Angeles Water and Power Building and suggestion from Councilwoman Judy Hoskins.

Contact reporter Celia Shortt Goodyear at cgoodyear@bouldercityreview.com or at 702-586-9401. Follow her on Twitter @csgoodyear.