Steven Bingler founded Concordia in 1983 as a New Orleans-based, community-centered planning and design practice. Many offices, projects and years later, the company is again making a shift and focusing on the future.
Concordia recently made a major announcement that they would be moving out of a downtown high-rise and into a new, cloud-connected office space on the booming O.C. Haley Boulevard.
Bingler says the motivation for the move was not about business, but about a different quality of life, and a closer alignment with their community-centered mission.
“From the 43rd floor we could see forever,” Bingler tells Canal Street Beat about the old office. He said it was a great vibe for a while, but the company decided last year to establish the new basecamp in Central City where they have been working and development “lifetime friendship” for more than a decade.
The new space and location was chosen from a number of options from the Bywater to Treme to Mid City. Concordia landed on its final location in the Franz Building next to neighbors including the Good Work Network, Juvenile Justice Project, and The Rethinkers. “And we’re just up the street from the folks at Asha, the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority, Cafe Reconcile, and other longtime friends and associates.”
Concordia knew they needed a cloud-connected office to best fit the needs of the firm while most often working on the move. “With staff in Cincinnati, OH and Hurricane, WV, and current projects in six states, we already work virtually, and our new location extends that opportunity to all of our staff while helping us to better communicate with our clients and the communities we serve,” continued Bingler.
Moving forward, that the company will continue to take on innovative public projects in challenging places. “We will continue to develop projects and policy initiatives that focus on bringing innovating planning and design services to the broad population.”
In addition to a number of new projects around the country, Concordia has projects in New Orleans including: the off-site planning and architectural components of HANO’s (Housing Authority of New Orleans) Iberville/Treme “Choice Neighborhoods” project, a new fine arts center for Nunez Community College, New Orleans offices for Panavision, community planning for HANO, and a culinary incubator for Good Work Network that is currently under construction.