in November 2021 we were able to purhcase an old warehouse. . .

Thanks to two loans, one from a private individual and the other “owner financing” we were able to get the keys to the most amazing old warehouse / factory in Bywater, the Giordano Furniture Building.

Build in the 1940s (give or take) the space had been owned by the Giordano Family for decades. Luckily for us, they were excited to sell the building to a community organization / non-profit. Otherwise, the building would have certainly been demolished and turned into fancy condos or a hotel maybe.


Instead, we set about creating a “bean museum”!

First, we had to change the zoning. The political process was a little more fraught than we anticipated, due to a few neighbors who were concerned about parking. Despite a scare-the-neighborhood campaign, we were able to rally community support for Beanlandia.

The zoning was officially changed in October 2022 by the New Orleans City Council (Thank you Councilman Freddie King!)

When we did the zoning, we put some safe-guards on the building to protect the neighborhood. We committed to:

  • No to-go in plastic cups

  • No music / food service past 9pm

  • No super loud noise

Top image shows an abandoned, rusted truck overgrown with plants in a clearing. Bottom image displays a spacious, clean, unfinished interior space with exposed wooden ceiling beams, concrete walls, and a staircase, with text 'Nov 2021' in the lower left corner.

Here is a video of “before”

Then we had to actually build-out the space - and get it to code. This meant adding reststrooms (there was no plumbing!) and building a full commercial kitchen. We had 1 year from the City Council vote to get that done.

Interestingly enough - because of zoning rules, the only spaces in New Orleans that can have live music are churches, restaurants, or bars. Since our building was never a church, we had two options. If we went “bar” than no children would ever be allowed in the space. Since we are a very kid-friendly organization, we opted for “restaurant”.

But that meant we had to actually build a up-to-code commercial kitchen! Thanks to financing from MC Bank, we were able to get the $550,00 to do that. The Bathrooms cost $200,000, which we raised from community-members.

The construction took almost a year. By December of 2023 we were ready to open!

But our building still needed a new roof and Air Conditioning! So we closed down in the summer-time (it get’s really hot after mid-June in New Orleans!).

In Summer of 2025, we were able to replace the roof with a brand-new shiny metal roof! (woo hoo!). We did this thanks to funding from the State of Louisiana and some of our state-historic tax credit money. This work has been completed as of September 2025.

One more mega-challenge remains, adding HVAC to the space. Because of the size and shape of the building, the only feasible way to do this is making the entire space conditioned. That means insulation all around and then a rather large HVAC system . . . it’s costly! But we believe one day we will get there!

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