An offer has been made on the Summerland Chamber of Commerce building, but the sale is not yet completed.
Sally Pierce, executive director of the Summerland Chamber, said the agreement is close to being finalized.
The offer on the building comes following a decision in the spring of 2024 to relocate the chamber to a downtown location.
The existing building, at the intersection of Highway 97 and Thompson Road, is owned by the Summerland Chamber, on land owned by the municipality of Summerland.
The chamber will use its portion of the sale funds to move to a downtown location, while the municipality will put its share of the proceeds of the sale to tourism-related ventures.
The building has been in place as the chamber’s home since the 1990s. At that time, travellers used roadside services to plan their trips. However, technology has changed and smartphones, travel apps, user reviews and social media have grown in popularity.
In May, the chamber announced it was considering using a former railway car from Canadian Pacific to be converted into a new visitor centre location.
The business car being considered is CP 71, the Killarney, which was built in 1916 and most recently refurbished in 2019. The car has a lounge seating area, four bedrooms that could be converted into office space, a counter and a washroom.