Signs you are here
- The building is vacant or close to it, and the original use is not coming back.
- The zoning may allow a new use by right, or it may need entitlements.
- Nobody has priced the structural, MEP, and fire life safety work.
- The owner needs a partner who has done a conversion before.
How I work it
- Test the useWhat the market will support, and what the building can physically do.
- Find the pathBy-right use, change of use, conditional use permits, or a public process.
- Price the systemsStructure, MEP, fire life safety, utilities, and environmental.
- Capitalize and deliverThe capital stack, the operating model, and the build.
Where I have done it
Hotels · ConversionHyatt House & Hyatt Place LAXA 258,000 SF office building becomes a 401-key dual-brand hotel.Lodging · Company BuildingStay Open Hotels & ManagementCommercial to co-lodging. There was no playbook, so I wrote it.Civic · Public ProcessPort of San Diego RFPA vacant waterfront car-rental building, a competitive RFP, and 20+ agencies to align.
Questions
Can an office building become a hotel?
Often, yes. The LAX Hyatt was a 258,000 SF office building that became a 401-key dual-brand hotel. It was allowed by right, which avoided a long entitlement fight. The structure, the floor plates, and the systems decide the rest.
What is co-lodging?
Affordable, social lodging with private pods and shared space. At Stay Open we converted vacant commercial space into design-forward pod lodging and built the brand and management company from zero.
Do you work on publicly owned sites?
Yes. I won the Port of San Diego RFP for a roughly 240-bed conversion of a vacant waterfront car-rental building and ran the CEQA, Coastal Commission, and Port Master Plan Amendment process.