First year of downtown’s Arcade Hub ‘pretty incredible to see’

Credit: JIM NOELKER

Credit: JIM NOELKER

This semester, 32 classes with more than 300 UD students are in the Hub, five days a week, Lewis noted.

And private office space at the Hub is nearly full, with 72 private offices occupied and one available. (A waiting list is in place for others as spaces become available.)

“It’s pretty incredible to see,” Lewis said. “It’s a lot of fun.”

It’s just the beginning, advocates say. Lewis said the third floor of the Arcade Rotunda is ready to be built out. Plans for the third floor include more private office space and a 100-plus-seat lecture space that can be divided.

“We really want to kind of increase capacity,” Lewis said. “That’s kind of the whole thing.”

Scott Koorndyk, president of the Entrepreneurs’ Center (EC), recalled that UD and his center were the hub’s first anchor tenants, with the EC signing first. It wasn’t immediately obvious what both institutions could do there.

Any such doubts are long gone. Koorndyk said workers from some 500 EC-business member companies have access to the Hub or can be found there 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

“There was a necessity to create an innovation-focused space to really radiate out and kind of create the energy that we all collectively believed was necessary,” Koorndyk said.

Work isn’t finished. Koorndyk expects Cross Street Partners — the Baltimore company leading the nine-building, 500,000-square-foot redevelopment of the Arcade — to turn its attention to the North side of the Arcade and other areas.

UD student Melissa Oei takes the “Flyer” public RTA bus to the Hub two mornings a week, spending about six hours at the Arcade every week. She enjoys it.

“It’s great to kind of lock myself in one place and get stuff done,” Oei said.

The Arcade has proven to be a magnet. Recently, Ghostlight Coffee and the Arcade announced plans for “Gather by Ghostlight” to open in the Arcade’s Fourth Street building on the first floor. And a trio of entrepreneurs are starting a small business incubator and commercial kitchen in the heart of the Arcade.

“The point is, you can come and go as you please,” Koorndyk said. “It’s a great place to use as sort of an anchor when they’re in the city.”