For a taste of Brooklyn right here in New Haven, drop by District’s “innovation campus” at 470 James St. A range of high-tech businesses and other enterprises including a CrossFit gym and an under-construction beer garden share a nine-acre development along the Mill River. Making it all work is JoHannah Hamilton, District’s community director.
Q: Tell me about District. What makes it different from other commercial projects?
There are a lot of things that make District different. For one, we’re a building with a vision: We aim to create communities that fuel positive social and economic impact across the state, which we do by equipping people and businesses with the space, resources and opportunities to make an impact. Our spaces are designed to provide businesses from one person to 100 people with amenities like an on-campus gym with plenty of choices, a restaurant and beer garden, trail and kayak launch — all provided to create opportunities for people to come together and create.
Q: What kind of companies are at District?
Current tenants of the building are Digital Surgeons, Urbane New Haven, District Athletic Club, Drive Cowork, SphereGen Technologies, Biorez, Murtha Cullina Law Lab and in October we’ll welcome Mindtrust and Edward Jones Investments as well as The Stack, our restaurant and beer garden that’s built around the iconic smokestack in the middle of campus. In January we will welcome Holberton New Haven as part of the District Innovation and Venture Center, our non-profit, and Impact Branding and Design.
Q: Can you give me some examples of the synergies created by this kind of space?
District was formed from the types of collisions that we are facilitating on campus now. When we talk about ‘collisions’ I think of it like chemistry — by themselves, sodium and chlorine each have their own purpose, but when they collide, they create something completely different that has another purpose — another goal. Those are the types of collisions we create. Today, the CEO of a start-up that makes sustainable footwear can run into the founder of a blockchain company while attending a panel discussion on the Connecticut tech economy with the CFO of Google. They can mingle with a photographer or management consultant, or mixed reality developers transforming education at the weekly social event in Drive Cowork. The opportunities are endless.
Q: What do you like about working and living in New Haven?
I love living and working in New Haven. It took going to grad school in the U.K. to realize that New Haven was home, despite not having grown up here. New Haven has so much to offer and maybe we will see more of these projects around town – with the potential impact they have, I hope that we do!
