These are exciting times at the Greater Glendale Chamber of Commerce. With support from residents, businesses, the Glendale Cherry Creek Chronicle and Glendale City Hall, we have built a vibrant business climate in and around the City of Glendale. Since January 2002 when the Greater Glendale Chamber of Commerce was formed, we have been right in the middle of the action building a better Glendale and improving the quality of life in our community.

Here are several significant projects to keep an eye on:

• King Soopers is planning to redevelop the corner of Leetsdale Drive and Cherry Street, site of the former Cub Foods. They should be open for business in September, 2010.
• The Cherry Street Bridge will see a few cosmetic improvements.
• On the corner of Cherry Street and Kentucky Avenue, the City has built the new Glendale Sports Complex and YMCA. Residents can join for just $8/month!
• Next to the Sports Complex along Kentucky Avenue is the new International Events Center – a conference facility with the biggest ballroom between Downtown and the Tech Center.
• Rugby has arrived in Glendale! Check out our calendar of upcoming events here on the Web site or visit www.glendalerugby.com for all the games, tournaments and rugby info. Both the men’s team and the women’s team are in the hunt for the national championship!
• The corner of Cherry Street and Mississippi Avenue is the future home of the south half of Infinity Park – an open park with lots of landscaping, an athletic field and plenty of room to run around or even just sit and read a book. Watch for this to be completed in May, 2010.
• A new retail site is under development south of Barnes & Noble along Colorado Blvd that includes a Tokyo Joe’s Restaurant, which is now open. Pedestrian access behind Murray Motors and the Post Office goes through to Birch Street.
• The corner of Colorado Blvd. and Cherry Creek Drive South is the new home of the Hilton Garden Inn Hotel, set to open in December, 2009. Three restaurants - Garbonzo’s, Café Rio and Panera Bread - will occupy space along Colorado Blvd. in front of the hotel.

This is no ordinary Chamber - and this is no ordinary City. Careful planning of our future by members of our City government and updating businesses regularly of those plans is just one example of how this tight-knit community supports one another.

If you and your company are not part of the Greater Glendale Chamber of Commerce, consider joining. Here are a few of the benefits:

• The best way to get involved with the Glendale Chamber is to be involved! The Chamber has a tremendous impact on our local community. Can you put a value on relationships? We build relationships by offering extraordinary networking events within the Glendale Chamber. Members have the opportunity to meet and get to know “big business” managers from Home Depot, Target and others while at the same time interact with smaller business owners and managers that only have a handful of employees – or less. And there are lots of businesses somewhere in between. Getting involved and building a relationship with others in the local business community can only help your business.
• Glendale has earned the reputation of being a very business-friendly city - and rightly so. The small government is easy to navigate through because it is so thin. Employees are focused on a friendly, results-oriented approach to problem solving. Chamber members can easily get to know the local elected officials and the administration within the City, as many of them attend the Chamber events.
• The political side of the Chamber doesn’t end with the local government. We have gotten to know our neighboring Denver City Council Members, County Commissioners, members of the state government and even our elected officials at the federal level. Please let us know if there is anything we can ever help with at any level of government.
• Because of our relationship with apartment managers and owners, people moving into Glendale are given a “welcome bag” with a variety of coupons and gifts as they move in during the summer. These bags offer free advertising for Chamber members. With over 2000 apartments in Glendale, it is priceless exposure, especially because people moving into a new area establish many of their buying habits within the first few months of arriving.
• Chamber members are given advertising discounts in the local newspaper, the Glendale Cherry Creek Chronicle. With a mailed distribution to over 80,000 homes, this may be the best value of all for advertising in the metro Denver area. In every issue, about half of the advertising comes from Chamber members. You’ll even find articles in the paper about member businesses and the people behind them. Additionally, the Glendale Chamber buys a page or two every month to support and showcase our members.
• Being a part of any community involves giving back to those in need. The Chamber takes great pride in offering several events throughout the year to support four outstanding non-profit organizations: the YMCA, the Central City Opera House Association, the Four Mile Historic Park and the Denver Hospice.

All of this is just the beginning, of course. There is much, much more to the Glendale Chamber - we encourage you to get involved. Give us a call at 303-584-4180 or visit our Web site, www.ggchamber.com. Thank you for your interest, we all look forward to working with you.