Jamestown Chamber, tourism office unveil remodeled shared building downtown

A refreshed front door for Jamestown’s business and visitor traffic is now open at 120 2nd St. SE, where the Jamestown Area Chamber of Commerce, Jamestown Tourism and the Jamestown Motor Vehicle Office marked completion of a remodel with a ribbon cutting. The changes are meant to make the building easier to navigate, improve first impressions for visitors, and make daily service more efficient for residents handling motor vehicle business downtown.

The project was financed in part by money set aside over time by previous Chamber and Tourism boards, turning years of planning and discipline into a practical upgrade for a building that does far more than house offices. It serves as a center for community information, tourism promotion and local business support, and the Motor Vehicle Office inside it is locally operated through the Chamber under contract with the North Dakota Department of Transportation.

That public-facing role made the remodel about more than fresh paint or new finishes. During the work, Chamber and Tourism staff temporarily relocated to the lower level of the building, a short-term adjustment that kept operations moving while the shared space was improved. The renovation now underway on the Chamber/Tourism side was designed to add more office space for staff and allow for an easier flow of traffic for DMV customers, two changes that should be noticeable in day-to-day use.

The remodel also sits inside a larger ownership and planning shift. On Nov. 4, 2024, the Jamestown City Council approved selling the city’s ownership portion of the property for $202,500, with the city’s share to be sold in equal parts to the Jamestown Chamber of Commerce, Jamestown Tourism and the Jamestown/Stutsman Development Corporation. By March 2025, JSDC said the final split would be 50% JSDC and 25% each for the Chamber and Tourism.

Local leaders also tied the building work to a broader effort to sharpen Jamestown’s identity. Chamber and Tourism merged in 2022, share positions, and worked with Odney on a rebrand that introduced a bison motif tied to Jamestown’s Buffalo City identity. With the remodel complete, the building now matches the role it plays every day: a shared civic space where visitors, drivers and business owners all come through the same door.