NEW YORK: Several Livonia businesses have either opened or moved into new buildings in recent years. The Livonia Chamber of Commerce has now decided to do the same.
The chamber is scheduled to open Monday morning in a suite on the second floor in the Civic Center Office Plaza at 33000 Five Mile, right across the street from the current office. It’s a move, chamber president Dan West said, he wasn’t exactly planning on doing so soon.
He said the lease with the city, who owns the building, was up at the end of October and he originally thought the chamber would just extend it for a few more years before searching again. But then a suite that formerly held a law office opened up in the plaza and the chamber decided to take it.
“We looked at a handful of buildings and shown the opportunity right there,” he said. “We’re still in the heart of the city with this location, and that’s good for us.”
The chamber was originally planning to move late last month, but work delayed the move. The phone numbers for the chamber will remain the same.
The chamber had been in the building at 33233 Five Mile since 2003, West said, where it moved after being in the building that State Farm Insurance occupies at 15401 Farmington just north of Five Mile for several decades When the chamber originally began in 1950, its office the first 11 years was in Eddie Edgar’s home near Six Mile and Merriman, West said.
The biggest benefit of moving to the new office, West said, is the new conference space available for chamber membership, which has continued to grow. The office will now have two conference rooms of two different sizes, allowing for the about two dozen community and business groups that regularly meet at the chamber offices to utilize more space and more opportunities throughout the day.
It will also allow smaller chamber members, perhaps those who typically work out of their home, to have a place to give presentations or seminars in a more professional setting.
“The way I’ve always viewed our building, it’s like the member’s clubhouse,” West said. “We’ll have a newer, better clubhouse for our members.”
