Signs you are here
- A city, port, or agency has a lower-cost lodging goal or an open RFP.
- A coastal project has to protect or replace lower-cost overnight accommodations.
- A vacant building could become affordable lodging, but the numbers need a new model.
- Public funding is available, but nobody has put the deal together.
How I work it
- Pick the modelPods, co-lodging, hostel, or select-service, matched to the site and the market.
- Convert firstExisting buildings are usually the fastest and cheapest path.
- Bring in public partnersRFPs, public funding, and the approvals that come with them.
- Run it wellAffordable does not mean cheap. Design, operations, and community.
Where I have done it
Civic · Public ProcessPort of San Diego RFPA vacant waterfront car-rental building, a competitive RFP, and 20+ agencies to align.Lodging · Company BuildingStay Open Hotels & ManagementCommercial to co-lodging. There was no playbook, so I wrote it.Civic · Downtown RevitalizationDowntown Santa Monica Leadership ForumThe right people in one room, pointed at the same plan.
Questions
What is lower-cost lodging?
Overnight accommodations priced for regular travelers, families, and workers, not just luxury guests. On the California coast, the Coastal Act protects it, and many projects have to provide or replace it.
Have you built it before?
Yes. At Stay Open we converted vacant commercial space into design-forward pod lodging, and I won the Port of San Diego RFP for a roughly 240-bed conversion of a vacant car-rental building.
What is CALS?
California Affordable Lodging Solutions, the nonprofit I co-founded to preserve and expand lower-cost lodging on the California coast.