Two years ago, Chicanos Latinos Unidos en Servicio, a social service agency that deals primarily with St. Paul's Spanish-speaking population, was ready to build a $2.8 million office on the West Side, the city's traditional Latino center.

It didn't happen, and now, in a reflection of changing populations, it is planning instead to build a $5 million office in the Dayton's Bluff neighborhood on the city's East Side.

"We were stopped cold by a study that said there were 13,000 Hispanics on the East Side,'' said Jesse Bethke Gomez, executive director of the agency known best by its initials, CLUES.

The agency that serves about 20,000 people a year is trying to close a deal for a site where it could construct and open a building in 18 months, Bethke Gomez said this week. He said the 21-year-old agency is not abandoning the West Side, as it will keep some programs there, but he said CLUES can best serve with a new, bigger East Side location.

Bethke Gomez declined to reveal the exact location until the deal is made final in the next few days.

The 2001 study Bethke Gomez cited was by Hispanic Advocacy and Community Empowerment through Research (HACER). The study said the 2000 census count of 9,000 Hispanics on the East Side was low, that there are more likely 13,500. The West Side is still the center of Latino culture — a third of its population is Hispanic — but in large chunks of the East Side the Latino population has more than doubled in the past 10 years.

"In 1990, there were 55,000 Hispanics in Minnesota. Now there are 145,000,'' Bethke Gomez said.

In 1995, his agency dealt with about 6,000 people, he said. Last year, it served 20,000 from its centers in St. Paul, Mankato and Minneapolis.

Bethke Gomez said with that sort of demand for services, there is little danger his and other agencies, such as Neighborhood House or La Clinica, will overlap and duplicate efforts. In fact, they all work together on some projects.

"We had a survey of about 150 clients in Minneapolis and asked where they went last year when they were sick or injured. Fifty-nine percent said 'nowhere.' That is why we and La Clinica are in the same building in Minneapolis, 2700 East Lake Street,'' Bethke Gomez said.

He said CLUES will invite other agencies to share or take part in programs at its new building on the East Side.

"We may get site control this week and then will launch a capital (fund) drive and be open in 12 to 18 months. That gives us time to build community and connections,'' he said.

It has been known for several years on the West Side that CLUES was seeking a bigger office, said Karen Reid, who is on the board of the Riverview Economic Development Association and is director of the Neighborhood Development Alliance, two West Side agencies.

"The loss of anything on the West Side will be felt, but we should look at their move as positive,'' Reid said, noting that already a lot of CLUES clients are from the East Side.

"We know the Mississippi River is as much a psychological barrier for the West Side as a real barrier. Maybe their moving will help overcome that.''

Bethke Gomez said CLUES gets 65 percent of its money from contracts for services with Ramsey and Hennepin counties and the state. About 8 percent comes from United Way and the rest from donations and foundations.

He said it was ironic that as demands for service are growing, he may have to cut his 75-member staff by 20 percent next year. He said several major foundations have told him that CLUES may not qualify for funding because of shifting foundation priorities.