FROM VACANT SHELL TO ENTREPRENEURIAL INCUBATOR: STORIES FROM INDIE CONFAB
JNS Partner Tobias Strohe recently had the opportunity to attend ILC’s INDIE Confab in Philadelphia. An event designed to connect creative provocateurs and disruptors from hotels, F&B, design and finance certainly didn’t disappoint. From unique development tours to engaging speakers, Tobias had endless opportunities to find inspiration and connection. Hear all about the experience in his own words.
By Tobias Strohe
I hadn’t been this excited about a conference in a long time. Perhaps it was because the INDIE Confab was actually in person – or perhaps it was because of the collaborative, independent energy percolating from the ILC event. Either way, I was fortunate to visit the city of sisterly entrepreneurship for the Independent Lodging Congress’ INDIE Confab, exploring Philadelphia through immersion into its unique hospitality scene.
The first day started with an extensive tour of the BOK vocational school redevelopment, a beautiful 1936 art deco building in South Philly. After sitting vacant for two years, a self-described ‘accidental’ and energetic team of women developers purchased it from the local school district in 2015 and set about transforming the abandoned school into a full city block bustling with local entrepreneurs.
Step inside BOK and you will find a veritable melting pot of South Philly, each former classroom now replete with independent and women-led businesses. From furniture makers, tattoo artists, architects, restaurants and charitable organizations to a preschool and a recording studio, BOK is a fascinating case study in adaptive reuse.
We met several interesting tenants, including a light projection artist and a vintage fashion store curator. We learned how a determined team of women developers took this gem, step by step, from a vacant shell in disrepair to a local entrepreneurial incubator. It began with just the rooftop BOK Bar a few years ago. This bar, as luck would have it, was also the venue at which they met the first banker willing to invest in their larger vision. The magic of hospitality!
Day two brought us to a pop-up garden in North Philly where we heard inspiring stories from a local C-suite executive turned tea grower and retailer. We absorbed insights on the importance of art in hospitality from Barnes Foundation director Thom Collins. We discussed social entrepreneurship, and of course, food, fashion, and artistry. The conversations even took us all the way to Hersha Hotels’ father and son leadership team, telling the story of how an Indian immigrant couple took an 11-key hotel in 1978 and transformed it into a multi-billion-dollar REIT.
It was inspiring to hear from innovators, disruptors, and independent hospitality leaders, and feel the energy of reemergence from the difficult past 18 months.