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General Assembly, an educational institution for technology, business and design, will be opening a second campus in downtown Los Angeles as part of its worldwide expansion plan. The new Downtown campus will be located in the Arts District and will open in late 2014. In the meanwhile, GA is offering part-time courses, classes and workshops at Hub LA, a creative coworking and event space also located in the Arts District. Fueled by its $35 million Series C round raised last March, GA has been ramping up hiring and its regional ambitions.
“Los Angeles is a dynamic and expansive city with a thriving technology economy and a need for people who have technology knowledge and skills,” Regional Director S. Ryan Meyer said in a statement. “We are expanding that to serve the broader geographic area.”
Downtown Los Angeles has recently experienced a boom in construction and somewhat of a "renaissance." Long a deserted and blighted area of LA known for Skid Road, the downtown area is becoming fashionable again. As reported by the Los Angeles Times, hundreds of millions of dollars are currently being invested on constructing new retail, office and residential spaces. There is even a prospective plan for a $1 billion residential, hotel and retail complex.
USC, which is also rapidly growing its entrepreneurial study, acceleration and incubation programs, sits not far from downtown LA and has been an important part of the rejuvenation. USC’s Verterbi Starup Garage, Blackstone Launchpad and Annenberg Innovation lab are all within miles of downtown Los Angeles. Many of the students from the university take up residence in Downtown.
At the new Downtown campus, General Assembly students will be offered many of the same courses offered at their 2nd street Santa Monica campus, without the commute. The new location could help General Assembly draw new enrollees from not only downtown but also from Pasadena and surrounding areas.
Courses, classes and events are now offered at The HUB LA in topics including front-end web development, user experience design and digital marketing.
General Assembly is celebrating the launch of the new Downtown space with “DTLA Community Happy Hour" July 18.
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