The Greater Niles Chamber of Commerce welcomed guests from all over the state to discuss the latest economic trends and what might be coming in the near future with its annual State of the Economy Breakfast on Wednesday.
Southwest Michigan Regional Chamber President Arthur Havlicek tells us the discussion was broken into two segments — one focusing on the Niles and Berrien County economy and one focusing on the state economy. When it comes to the state picture, he says 2025 has been a wild ride.
“We started the year under a cloud of uncertainty related to the minimum wage and paid sick leave laws that came down to the wire until legislators were able to push through some fixes for those that kept businesses in suspense,” Havlicek said.
And Havlicek says the stalemates over the state and federal budgets also had businesses on pins and needles. Despite all of that, he says progress continued on the local level.
“Everything from the city of Niles working through its Redevelopment Ready Certification, which it’s the second community in Berrien County to achieve that important designation, to the county’s work on brownfields.”
Havlicek says Berrien County has been able to move several housing projects forward by helping developers utilize the state’s brownfield law.
Despite the uncertainty that remains in the local and state economy, Havlicek says he’s feeling optimistic.
“The resiliency of folks wanting to double down and invest in this community despite some of the uncertainty gives me every bit of confidence that the next few years we’re going to start to see a lot more investment and a lot more growth.”
The Greater Niles Chamber sold out all available tickets for Wednesday’s event.
