Boese said the city's continued resurgence can be seen everywhere, from the lofts and condos downtown to new academic buildings to the VanAndel Arena, a 17,000-seat entertainment complex. But it is not just downtown. The city offered deals to teachers and police officers as incentives to buy homes in depressed neighborhoods. Kurt Metzger, director of the Michigan Metropolitan Information Center of Wayne State University in Detroit, said that historically, western Michigan's Hispanic population was concentrated in more rural areas like Holland. In the 1990s, however, Hispanics moved into urban and suburban areas.
Demographers say the Hispanic growth is driven mainly by an influx of Mexican immigrants.
While the city's Hispanic population surged, the non-Hispanic white population declined between 6,000 and 11,000. Western Michigan booms What's happening in Grand Rapids also speaks to the area of western Michigan that is booming, or, the suburbs of Grand Rapids, where professionals from across the country are moving. Brian Manderfield moved from Arizona to Holland, the center of Ottawa County, just west of Grand Rapids along Lake Michigan. Ottawa grew from 187,768 in 1990 to 238,314 last year. Only Oakland, Macomb and Kent counties had more growth.