It’s been about five years since the Grand Rapids-based Local First West Michigan moved from a tiny 1,000-square-foot office space on the second floor of 955 Wealthy St. SE to the same building’s main floor, nearly doubling its office’s square footage at the time.
Now, Local First has nearly doubled its space again, and the group wants to invite members of the Grand Rapids community to an office warming party on Thursday, July 21 for its nearly 3,000-square-foot headquarters at 345 Fuller Ave. NE.
“It’s a community-wide event, so anybody in the community is welcome to attend,” says Mieke Stoub, Local First marketing manager, who says she hopes Local First programming can promote the same kind of positive business practices along its new corridor as it did while at its old Wealthy Street office.
“We definitely want to continue to build on our programming depending on the needs of our community and the needs of our membership, and what that means is continuing to give resources to local businesses, and also helping improve their business practices,” Stoub says. “We would love to see that in the new neighborhood we’re living in. We saw that on the Wealthy Street Corridor when we were there, and we would love to see that happen along the Michigan Street corridor, as well.”
Founded by local developer Guy Bazzani of Bazzani Associates, Local First is supported by two eight-person boards — the Local First Board and the Local First Educational Foundation Board — and it has nine full and part-time staff members. With more than 800 staff members in West Michigan, the organization hosts several annual events for business owners and community members in the region.
Local First’s new space includes an open office layout with 12 workstations, one large and two smaller conference rooms, two kitchenettes, and one small semi-private office.
“It was basically a white box when we moved in, so the decoration and all of the internal stuff that was there prior [to Local First] was removed. The drywall was up, but we completely renovated the space with new paint, new flooring and new furniture,” Stoub says, adding that furniture and decor was provided by a number of community partners, including Custer, Design Edge Sign Company, Lott3Metz Architecture, Silver Lining Computer Services, Steelcase, and X Ventures.
“We want to show off our new space and give some people the opportunity to either connect with us or meet us for the first time,” she says. “We want people to see our faces and the faces behind organization and get to know us in that way, too.”
To learn more about Local First and its members, stop by its
office warming party today, Thursday, July 21 from 4-7 p.m. or visit www.localfirst.com.
Written by Anya Zentmeyer, Development News Editor
Images courtesy of Local First West Michigan
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