Town Hall renovation work will force staff to relocate to building for months

By Tara Fischer

Staff Writer

While the future of the Berlin Welcome Center remains uncertain, groups float the idea that a regional cultural heritage center could move into the space.

Berlin’s Town Hall building is set to soon go under renovation. While this construction takes place, town staff will move to the Main Street visitor center on Main Street, displacing groups that operate there, including the nonprofit organization Beach to Bay Heritage Area and the Berlin Chamber of Commerce. This action could be temporary or permanent, depending on the municipality’s decision regarding the welcome space.

Upon project completion, Berlin’s economic and community development, currently working in the welcome center, will move to the upgraded town hall on Williams Street. The rearrangement will promote staff collaboration, with all teams working in closer proximity than they do at present.

However, personnel will relocate from the visitor center once the town hall’s renovations are finalized, leaving the building largely vacant. Berlin officials must decide what the welcome space’s future holds.

While there is time, as the town hall’s update is not expected to be complete until next summer at the earliest, the municipality’s mayor and council hosted a work session earlier this week to hear possibilities.

Lisa Challenger of Beach to Bay Heritage Area and Melissa Reid of the Calvin B. Taylor House Museum pitched a regional heritage center.

Specifically, Challenger, Beach to Bay’s executive director, urged the town to consider a “cultural heritage interpretive center.”

“The Beach to Bay Heritage Area proposes to repurpose the existing Berlin Welcome Center into a vibrant, multi-use facility that serves as both a community hub and a cultural heritage interpretive center,” the outline reads. “The reimagined space will accommodate non-profit organizations, small businesses, and individuals seeking hot-desk or short-term office space. It will also continue to serve visitors and residents with accessible information and resources of the region’s rich heritage.”

Key features could include adaptable office space for organizations, a hub with resources on the region’s heritage and history, exhibits highlighting sites like the Taylor House, Rackliffe House, the Museum of Ocean City, and Germantown School, and provide storage space, as it currently does for items used for town events.

Additional collaborators for the space could include We Heart Berlin and Radio Free Berlin.

Challenger maintained that while this type of center would not generate significant revenue for the town, it would serve a more beneficial purpose: strengthening Berlin’s commitment to the community.

“It would bring much larger value than any dollar can be placed on it, through attraction, through quality of life, through bringing in other parts of the community into downtown. And really sharing their stories,” she said. “If it’s going to come down to hard, fast dollars, it’s going to be hard to compete.”

Challenger continued, adding, “Our vision is taking the existing building and really turning it into a multi-use with office space, businesses like the radio station, and then turning the front into a real community hub of a cultural heritage interpretive center.”

The executive director added that the space would be regional, not just highlighting downtown Berlin, but also the surrounding areas. Grants may be available for building costs and exhibit creation.

“We can make this kind of a cultural anchor to safeguard our history and heritage and traditions,” Challenger said. “We have a list of funders that we would definitely go after. I feel like we would have a good amount of success. This could definitely be a model for a cooperative, public-private partnership.”

Reid, Taylor House president, and Challenger emphasized the importance of maintaining a place that protects the region’s commitment to the arts and humanities. Reid noted that the Town of Berlin has been riding “an incredible wave of success,” but that hardships cannot be avoided.

“Every boom has a bust, and we have been on a great boom for a long time,” she said. “What concerns me, unless we collectively talk about and find answers on how to land a bust, in other words, when an economic downturn comes because they always will, what does Berlin have that will safeguard what has been in the works for decades?”

The presenters assured that the building should be economically viable, and rent should be charged, but that it does not need to go to the highest bidder.

“‘I think it’s important that we keep that balance of commerce and community,” Reid said.

Berlin Mayor Zack Tyndall asked what the proposed heritage center could bring that existing Berlin sites, such as the Taylor House, do not.

Challenger and Reid said that the Taylor House tells the stories of Berlin, while a new heritage hub would include attractions throughout the region, such as museums as far as Salisbury. Furthermore, the Taylor House’s reach has limits. The facility operates seasonally, from March to October. The historic house areas can also not be adjusted for exhibit space. A fresh center would offer more flexibility and diversity in what could be highlighted. The Germantown School would be a significant focus, for example.

Worcester County Commissioner Diana Purnell was present at this week’s welcome center work session, advocating, as a Berlin citizen, for Challenger and Reid’s proposal.

Purnell urged the Berlin Town Council to consider the suggestion, as it would allow sites like the Germantown School to extend their reach and impact.

“If we got a central location, and someone rolls into town and they go to the center and say, ‘I want to know about Germantown School … I want to know where it is. I want to know this about Berlin,’ you got a cohesive message in one place,” she said. “Right now, what we have in Berlin and how the growth has taken place, a lot of small towns would kill for. Heritage is number one. I think we can do that, and you need that heartbeat for Berlin. We need to work together. That’s how heritage works. It’s not a separate thing, it’s a together thing.”

The council was receptive to the proposal and maintained that they are open to considering the possibility, but that it is far too early for any type of decision to be made.

“I do see opportunity in what was presented tonight,” Councilman Steve Green said. “I see value in celebrating, remembering our past, present, and looking to the future. I do see an opportunity there to diversify some of the offerings we have in Berlin.”

As for a timeline, Tyndall asked Reid and Melissa to put together a list of potential funding sources for the heritage project, which will be formally presented at a later date. According to officials, the future of the welcome center is uncertain, pending town hall renovations, and they would like to see what is needed as the upgrade work progresses. Further review is likely to take place next summer.

The town hall renovations are expected to begin in December with an anticipated completion of summer 2026.

The town purchased the Berlin Welcome Center in March of 2011 for $357,500. The original intention was that a visitor space would occupy the front of the building, while artist studio spaces would be located in the back. That initial plan did not come to fruition, as the Berlin Chamber of Commerce, a user of the structure, experienced frequent leadership changes, resulting in a lack of consistent vision. Additionally, the artistic rooms were difficult to keep rented.

Since Berlin’s purchase in 2011, the welcome center has undergone a series of improvements, including to the HVAC system, roof, and floor.

Tyndall highlighted the building’s value, given its ideal location on Main Street with seven parking spaces. According to the mayor, any lease would be around $4,500. If only the front of the structure were to be rented (approximately 1,500 square feet), and the back half were to remain as storage for the town, the lease would be $2,500.

At the work session, the idea of selling the welcome center came up, with resident Carol Rose strongly opposed. The town officials said that while that option is on the table, they would like to see the municipality hold on to it and expects that to be the case. Still, every choice must be considered. If the building were to go on the market, in the current climate, it is valued at $500,000 to $700,000 for a sale price.