It was a really great party. Actually, it was "Chamber After Hours," a regular event sponsored by the Albany Area Chamber of Commerce, designed for network schmoozing. But Tuesday's Social was something special, giving Chamber members an opportunity to see the inside of Suite 200, 125 Pine Avenue -- the brand-new home of the Albany-Dougherty Economic Development Commission.

Scores of business owners, managers and interested personnel jammed the roughly 2,700 square feet on the second floor. Eventually, participants eased away from their heavy hors d'oeurves and alcoholic refreshment to watch the official ribbon-cutting of the new digs.

Behind the Chamber/EDC scissors-wielding group was a wall-sized mural, enlarged from an Albany city map of 1885.

The move brings a physical separation from the EDC's former home at the Chamber building at 225 West Broad Avenue, said EDC president, Ted Clem, with the real change largely symbolic.

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