Message from the President

Lights, Camera & Action, Coral Gables!

As we begin our new Chamber year, a global pandemic is now in our rear-view mirror. Yet, we are still dealing with our own unique long-Covid challenges that are impacting every business – crippling inflation, trying workforce hiring, rising cost of goods and other lingering symptoms.

But through it all, your Chamber – and you, our valued members – have remained undeterred.

That is our role as a Chamber as we set the stage for success for each of you this year. We must continue to look to the future and our collective recovery. We are the voice for local businesses and what we have to say has never been more important.

President & CEO

Mark A. Trowbridge

Over the past few years, we have reveled in a time of incredible transformation in our City Beautiful: a reimagined Miracle Mile and Giralda Plaza, awe-inspiring public art featuring Instagram-worthy snaps, ribbon cuttings galore that herald a strikingly positive business climate, as well as endless opportunities to engage.

Our Chamber celebrates our third-year anniversary in our retail space on Alhambra Circle. Our home is an extraordinary headquarters, located at Main & Main of the business district and designed as a place to convene, collaborative and create. Come visit our Welcome Center and help us celebrate this innovative epicenter for business.

In the past year, a multitude of new and exciting businesses and consulates opened across the City that continue to raise our profile in the South Florida business community! The same can be said for 2023 as we celebrate new Consulates from Mexico, Guatemala and Paraguay, and roll-out the red carpet for such exciting global brands like the HQ for Ryder Corporation.

With our centennial just two short years away, the time is perfect to think about our future as a Chamber and City. Since our founding by the visionary George E. Merrick in 1925, the Coral Gables Chamber of Commerce has been dedicated to making our community an epicenter for business, both domestically and globally, while diligently serving our resident, employee and visitor populations. With a focus on balanced growth and robust job creation, together with a superior lifestyle designed for live, work, learn and play, the Chamber leads the way in our business community.

To all of our visitors, we welcome you and hope you enjoy The City Beautiful – and please, check out our Welcome Center at 201 Alhambra Circle. Soon, we will open on Saturdays and celebrate the launch of a new tour out of the Center – a foodie extravaganza tour – to be coupled with our already much beloved historic architecture tour.

Of course, we invite you to return again and again as you aid in our recovery and a robust return to a fully open business world filled with travel and discovery.

To our residents, we thank you for your support, which you so graciously offer year-round. To businesses seeking a new market to expand into, we say join the crowd that has fallen in love with our City Beautiful as we help you make Coral Gables your home!

And to our business community, we salute you and value your enduring commitment to making Coral Gables the very best in all of South Florida. The past three-plus years have been tough and painful; but together, we have survived, strived and thrived.

We encourage you to take advantage of the renowned restaurants, world-class shopping, historic venues, unparalleled culture, incredible hotel product, outstanding education and health care institutions and international flair that make Coral Gables magnificent!

And, as we like to say to our members, we are your exclusive concierge as you discover (or re-discover) the sophistication and charm of our Coral Gables!

Now, let’s step onto the stage and embrace success.