First Up
Kieran: This Beat goes out to all those poor souls trying to drive out of D.C. today. Good luck, and happy Memorial Day! We’ll be off Monday, but back in action Tuesday.
Let’s get to it.
The Big One
A breakdown on the day’s biggest Inno story.
Kieran: Though it usually uses other developers’ apartments to run pop-up hotels, WhyHotel now wants to do some building of its own.
The D.C.-based hospitality service, which operates pop-up hotels in newly built apartment buildings during the lease-up phase, is launching a new business unit called Hospitality Living with the help of new executives and a San Francisco office.
Led by the recently appointed SVP of acquisitions and development, Will Hu, Hospitality Living will turn WhyHotel into a part-time developer. It plans to build high-rise urban developments that permanently use the WhyHotel pop-up model.
With a focus on building design, Hospitality Living will deliver WhyHotel’s regular guest experience while creating a flexible-use real estate asset that can switch between apartment and hotel use.
“Since the ’90s, what the real estate development community has affectionately called mixed-use properties are in reality inflexible, ‘stacked-use’ assets. Every space is separate and built for a single use,” CEO Jason Fudin said in a statement. “The launch of Hospitality Living will allow us to focus on the next phase of our company, the evolution of buildings into truly flexible assets.”
The new mission also expands WhyHotel’s geographic footprint, as it plans to open a satellite office on the West Coast. Hu, who will lead the division, previously worked for Prado Group, a San Francisco-based developer.
In addition to Hu, WhyHotel brought on Rohit Anand in an advisory role as experience visioneer and Miguel Oliveira as its first chief marketing officer, among other hires.
Read more: DC Startup WhyHotel Brings on Execs to Start Building Its Own Properties
Making Moves
Inside the people, companies and organizations making moves today.
Maryland Tech Awards Announced
The Maryland Tech Council, one of the state’s largest tech trade associations, this week announced the winners of its annual Industry Awards. The event honored individuals and tech firms in 10 categories, including emerging companies, government contracting and life sciences. Some of the awards included CuriosityStream,Altamira Technologies, GetWellNetwork, Senseonics and CEO of the Year David Affeldt of GRSi. Check out the full list of winners here.
Marymount’s New Biz & Tech Dean
Arlington’s Marymount University has appointed longtime D.C. tech advocate Jonathan Aberman as interim dean of its School of Business and Technology. Aberman is known for plenty around the District’s innovation economy, including columns for the WBJ, hosting the What’s Working in Washington podcast and founding VC group Amplifier Ventures.
“It’s not just the fact that the nature of work changes so quickly now, or that companies need a rich and growing pipeline of capable, visionary technology-savvy talent,” he said in a statement. “Companies need this talent to have a liberal arts education, so they come to the work force understanding business, history, politics, law, ethics and other disciplines so critical in this disruptive age.” Read more here. |
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