Tabitha — as promised. Two live US projects where the interior and lighting seat hasn't been chosen yet — each one built around the F&B and public space you told me you do best, with the real owner-side decision-maker named and the line I'd open with.
Two here, as a sample — enough to judge the quality before anything else. Every project I send is verified against the design press and the design firms' own portfolios, so you're never chasing work that was quietly handed off months ago. Every one real, and yours alone — I never send the same project to two studios.
Nothing has gone out — these are yours to carry.
01
Nolte National Bank Block Hotel
101 E. Nolte St. · Seguin, Texas · 100 keys · Opening 2029
Project
A $26.5M downtown redevelopment by GroundFloor Development — a 100-room boutique hotel inside the historic Nolte National Bank and post office buildings, with ground-floor restaurants, an interior event courtyard, a ballroom, and both a ground-level and an upper-level bar. City Council approved the development agreement June 2026; design still to be produced. Architect and interior/lighting designer
not yet named. Express-NewsFit for Studio UNLTD
The public rooms are the whole project — two bars, a courtyard, a ballroom, and ground-floor dining inside preserved historic fabric. Exactly the F&B-and-public-space brief your studio is built around, in a downtown setting that has to feel specific, not prototype.
Contact
Matt Holley — COO, GroundFloor Development (the operating development lead, quoted directly on the project). Route via GroundFloor Development or LinkedIn — a real owner-side decision-maker, not a chain figurehead.
How you might openMatt — the Nolte block feels like the kind of hotel where the restaurant, the two bars, the courtyard, and the ballroom have to carry the experience as much as the rooms. Studio UNLTD's work is strongest in F&B-heavy hospitality and elevated public space — and Seguin's brief reads less like a prototype flag and more like a downtown amenity that has to feel specific from arrival through the upper-level bar.
02
20 Washington
20 Washington Ave. S. · Minneapolis, Minnesota · 165 keys · Opening 2028
Project
A conversion of Minoru Yamasaki's 1965 Northwestern National Life landmark into a 165-room boutique hotel, positioned "between Four Seasons and Hewing." Roughly 40,000 sq ft of amenity: a 17,000 sq ft rooftop restaurant and lounge over the colonnaded portico, a penthouse ballroom and indoor pool above the city, and a ground-floor restaurant along the building's reflecting pools. Acquired Nov 2025; initial plans presented April 2026. Interior, lighting, and FF&E
not yet named. Star Tribune ·
Architect's NewspaperFit for Studio UNLTD
An interior + lighting brief where the amenity story carries the property — rooftop, penthouse, and ground-floor dining inside a protected modernist envelope where the light does as much as the millwork. Urban, boutique, and public-space-driven — exactly your lane.
Contact
Chad Tepley — President & Founder, CDT Realty Corporation. He bought the building outright and is driving the redevelopment — the individual decision-maker, quoted directly in the press. Route via CDT Realty or LinkedIn.
How you might openChad — the 20 Washington conversion is one of the most compelling adaptive-reuse briefs in the Midwest right now. Yamasaki built it as "a park with a building in it," and the plan honors that where it counts: a rooftop restaurant floating over the portico, a ground-floor restaurant reading against the reflecting pools, a penthouse ballroom and pool above the city. Roughly 40,000 sq ft where the public-space and F&B experience carries the whole property — which is the work our studio is built around.
That's the sample. Every fact here I verified myself — the design seat open, the decision-maker named, the source linked. That verification is the part that takes the work, and it's the part that keeps you from chasing a project that was spoken for months ago.
If they're useful, here's how it runs.
How it works
A steady flow, matched to exactly this
The two above are the standard. The service is an ongoing stream of live US projects — new builds, conversions, and renovations — matched to what you just saw: F&B-forward, public-space-driven, elevated amenity, urban or resort. Design seat not yet chosen, the real owner or developer named, an opener drafted in your voice, in your inbox before the RFQ. The conversations are yours; my job ends at the handoff.
One studio per lane · what I bring you never goes to a competitor
—Live US projects matched to your niche — F&B, public space, elevated amenity — where the interior and lighting seat isn't yet selected
—Each one checked against the design press and the design firms' own portfolios — not scraped off a permit feed
—The real owner or developer named, with the right routing — not a chain CEO who won't read it
—An opening line drafted in your voice for each, sources cited so every fact is defensible
—Exclusive to you in your lane — I never send the same project to two studios
Tell me which of these two you'd want me to start with — and let's find fifteen minutes to walk through how it works.
Either way — even a one-line read on these two tells me how to sharpen the next ones for your studio.
Sean