New Orleans Will Soon Have an Innovation Corridor

At the beginning of August, there was speculation that WeWork was planning to opening a giant coworking space in the Contemporary Arts Center (the CAC) in New Orleans.

According to permits filed with the City of New Orleans on July 20, 2016 by Eskew+Dumez+Ripple, the 3rd and 4th floors of the CAC at 900 Camp Street in the warehouse district would be transformed into a “work-sharing space.”

The total space of both floors is just over 38,000 square feet. For those who looked closely at the renderings, you could see that The Idea Village, an entrepreneurial hub in New Orleans, and development firm The Domain Companies were listed as tenants.

Silicon Bayou News has been able to confirm that WeWork is not renting and renovating the space, rather The Domain Companies is opening their own shared workspace called The Shop that will fit 400 people.

The Idea Village has announced they are officially moving into the space at the CAC when the renovations are complete in the not too distant future. The organization says the new office space will be located in what they are dubbing the city’s Innovation Corridor, which will be the new home of New Orleans Entrepreneur Week in the spring.

In addition to the many museums in the area, other organizations in the area–although not all open yet– include the Greater New Orleans Foundation headquarters, the New Orleans Culinary & Hospitality Institute (NOCHI), and AIA New Orleans Center for Design.