By: Deborah Johnson Wood
After nearly a year of construction and a week of moving, the Muskegon Area Chamber of Commerce opened for business in its brand new offices last Monday.
At 7,000 square feet, the new space is nearly double the size of the previous offices and is helping catalyze reconstruction of the downtown core, which has been mostly vacant land after the demolition of the former Muskegon Mall that once anchored downtown.
The new Chamber offices occupy most of the second floor of the Hines Building at Third and Western, one of several new construction projects in the urban core.
“It’s been documented that a city’s Chamber of Commerce offices reflect the city it represents,” says President Cindy Larsen. "When people come into our new offices, they’ll see a chamber and a city that’s moving forward into the 21st Century. In our previous space on Third, we were so crowded we were on top of each other when we had conferences here.”
Larsen said the Chamber considered renovating a space but felt it was important to support new construction downtown in hopes that others would follow.
“There are at least five other new construction projects down here that broke ground, or are going to break ground, after we announced our plans,” she notes.
Those projects include the Sidock Building, a commercial space, and Heritage Square Townhomes, a residential project.
Muskegon Area First, Muskegon Main Street, SCORE, the Jaycees and other civic organizations share the new space with the Chamber. Each organization shares access to the new conference rooms and training center, and has views of Muskegon Lake or the cityscape.
Source: Cindy Larsen, Muskegon Area Chamber of Commerce (courtesy photo)
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Deborah Johnson Wood is the development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected].
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