Tech firms huddle in the former McGlinchey Stafford building

It started a few years ago as an idea on a napkin. Create a symbolic and physical heart of the creative movement emerging in New Orleans by putting several top-flight entrepreneurial tech firms into one really hip building. Well, the napkin sketch is now reality. The Inc. 500 firm iSeatz, Turbo Squid, Launch Pad, Carrollton Technology Partners and Idea Village are moving into the former McGlinchey Stafford building at 643 Magazine St. The concept was the brainchild of the Idea Village and GNO Inc., two business advocacy groups trying to nurture a creative corridor concept. The two signed on Brian Gibbs to gut the building and create a creative space called The I.P. [it stands for Intellectual Property], which allows dogs and has a wine bar, shared board rooms and a gym with a sauna and showers. Joining the tenants down the road is Couhig Partners, a law firm that specializes in intellectual property. “We think the New Orleans region as a whole really stands to profit from this sector of creative and digital media, film, music, web, software and technology,” says GNO Inc. Chief of Staff Austin Marks. “We have the culture and the conditions in this region to really thrive in this sector.” Those who gave birth to the concept plan to take it on the road to the Northshore and the River Parishes. A private party to celebrate the opening is planned for Thursday evening.