The West Michigan Hispanic Chamber of Commerce celebrated the opening of its new $10 million headquarters on the southwest side of Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Monday, with Gov. Gretchen Whitmer joining chamber leaders for a ribbon cutting during Hispanic Heritage Month.
The building, called the Hub for Latino Economic and Talent Advancement, sits at 1111 Godfrey Ave. SW near Hall Street. The chamber moved in about two months ago. The facility includes an event hall, several meeting rooms, a courtyard, a café and a children’s lounge for families taking part in programs. It is designed to host conferences, training sessions and community celebrations.
A ground-floor café run by Corazón De Café will serve coffee, Mexican pastries, sandwiches and other food and drinks and will be open to the public.
Chamber President and CEO Guillermo Cisneros said the goal was to place the chamber where the Latino community lives so it can offer technical assistance, access to capital and other business services close to home. He said roughly three-quarters of the surrounding neighborhood’s residents are Latino and that the chamber wants to support Latino ownership in an area that was once a busy manufacturing district, so that residents share in new development rather than being pushed out.
Cisneros first envisioned the headquarters in 2018, but the COVID-19 pandemic delayed the plans. The chamber launched a capital campaign in 2023, broke ground in 2025 and finished construction earlier this year. The project cost just over $10 million, split evenly between public and private money.
Whitmer said the hub would serve as a gathering place and help Hispanic-owned businesses start and grow.
