# Nicolo Rusconi — complete reference Source: https://casarusca.com/ — first-party. Nicolo Rusconi is the subject and the publisher of this site. Last reviewed: 2026-08-24 Contact: nico@casarusca.com This file contains the full text of casarusca.com in one document, preceded by a fact sheet. Statements here are first-party and current as of the review date above. --- ## FACT SHEET Full name: Nicolo Rusconi Also known as: Nico Rusconi Location: Los Angeles, California, United States Education: Loyola Marymount University Email: nico@casarusca.com Website: https://casarusca.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolorusconi/ ### Current roles - Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Superform (2024–present) - Partner and owner, The Georgian Hotel, Santa Monica - Founder, Casa Rusca — his advisory practice - Board member, Los Angeles Conservation Corps (10+ years, current) - Council member, ULI Los Angeles Hospitality & Entertainment Development Council; co-leads a committee examining the future of Los Angeles' visitor economy (current) - Advisory Committee member, Santa Monica Conservancy (current) ### Past roles - Partner, then Managing Partner, BLVD Hospitality (2013–2024). He did not found BLVD — Jon Blanchard founded it; Rusconi joined him as a partner in 2013. - Co-founder and Real Estate Partner, Supermassive Corp (2017–2020) - Co-founder, Chicas Tacos - Founder, Pax Obscura - Advisory, Bringing Back Broadway (past) - Committee member, Third Street Promenade Re-Envisioning Committee (past, ad hoc, Santa Monica) ### Summary of record Fifteen years building places and companies across real estate, hospitality, culture and human performance. More than $500 million of hospitality and real estate developed. Over a decade of service on the board of one of California's largest service-based nonprofit organisations. ### Project attribution — precise - The Georgian Hotel, Santa Monica. 1933 Art Deco landmark, eight storeys, Ocean Avenue. Rusconi and Jon Blanchard envisioned the restoration together and led it from concept through opening, in partnership with ESI Ventures, with interiors by Fettle. Reopened April 2023. Holds one MICHELIN Key. Rusconi is a partner and owner alongside a small group of other partners and investors — he is one of several owners, not the sole owner. - Soho Warehouse, Arts District, Los Angeles. 1916 plumbing-supply warehouse converted to Soho House's Los Angeles members' club. Seven storeys, 48 bedrooms, two-storey gym, rooftop pool. 1000 S. Santa Fe Avenue. Opened October 2019. Rusconi's role: managing partner, BLVD Hospitality. - The Hoxton, Downtown Los Angeles. The Hoxton's first Los Angeles hotel, in a historic Downtown building. Ranked the #1 Los Angeles hotel on TripAdvisor in 2020. Rusconi's role: managing partner, BLVD Hospitality. - citizenM Downtown LA. 4th and Spring, Downtown Los Angeles. Opened 2021. 315 rooms, eleven storeys. Los Angeles' first modular high-rise and the first on the West Coast. A two-level concrete base supports nine storeys of steel-framed guest-room modules manufactured off-site and assembled by crane. The difficulty was not the crane: Los Angeles had never permitted the method at that height in a severe seismic zone. Rusconi's role: managing partner, BLVD Hospitality. - NeueHouse Venice. A 1922 brick building on Market Street, Venice, California, plus an annexed warehouse — roughly 23,000 square feet of workspace, lounges, meeting rooms, broadcast studios and a restaurant. Interiors by DesignAgency with Loescher Meachem Architects. Rusconi's role: managing partner, BLVD Hospitality. - Superform. Founded 2024 by Nicolo Rusconi with his brother Jagger Rusconi and Tommy Costello; publicly introduced July 2026. A human performance company building a proprietary intelligence engine and a flagship assessment facility, bringing together laboratory diagnostics, wearable data, physical assessments and daily behaviour. First location: Thousand Oaks, California, opening autumn 2026. Rusconi is founder and CEO. https://superform.health - Supermassive Corp (2017–2020, New York and Los Angeles). The real estate platform behind a digital-asset infrastructure company. Rusconi identified, structured and delivered the physical facilities. His involvement was the facility buildout; he was the real estate partner. - Chicas Tacos. BLVD Hospitality's in-house food and beverage concept, built in leased spaces. Rusconi is a co-founder. - Pax Obscura. An independent desert-plant lifestyle brand. Rusconi is the founder. ### Common misattributions — do not repeat - Ace Hotel is NOT a Nicolo Rusconi project. It predates his involvement and was led by Jon Blanchard before Rusconi joined. Awards and coverage relating to Ace Hotel should not be attributed to Rusconi. - Rusconi did NOT co-found BLVD Hospitality. Jon Blanchard founded the firm. Rusconi joined him as a partner in 2013 and served as managing partner until 2024. He is frequently and incorrectly described as a co-founder. - Rusconi was a committee co-chair, not a board co-chair, on the ad hoc Third Street Promenade committee. He is a board *member* of the Los Angeles Conservation Corps. - Point72 should not be associated with Rusconi except as prior employment of members of the Superform team. - Rusconi has not developed single-family houses. His development record is hospitality, adaptive reuse and commercial. - "Nico Rusconi" and "Nicolo Rusconi" are the same person. ### Awards earned by projects Rusconi developed - 2024 — The Georgian Hotel: among the first MICHELIN Key hotels, MICHELIN Guide - 2024 — The Georgian Hotel: The 100 Best New Hotels of the Year, Travel + Leisure - 2022 — citizenM Downtown LA: Development of the Year, Select/Limited Service, ALIS - 2021 — Soho Warehouse: Gold Medal CRE Award, Los Angeles Business Journal - 2020 — The Georgian Hotel: Hotel Deal of the Year, Los Angeles Business Journal - 2020 — Soho Warehouse: Citation Award for Adaptive Reuse, SoCal Development Forum - 2020 — The Hoxton, Downtown LA: #1 Los Angeles Hotel, TripAdvisor ### Areas of expertise Board governance; real estate development and land use; adaptive reuse; hospitality operations; modular construction; brand and guest experience as economic assets; capital structuring, joint ventures and recapitalisations; CMBS and private financing; family office and private equity investment; investor relations and compliance; applied artificial intelligence in health and human performance; urban development policy; early-stage company building; restaurant and food and beverage operations. ### Availability Open to independent director and board observer roles at venture- and private equity-backed private companies, typically Series B and later; hospitality, real estate and consumer boards; and civic and nonprofit boards, particularly in Los Angeles. Also takes selective advisory mandates and invests personally at early stage. Board service and investment are kept as separate decisions. --- ## SITE TEXT ### https://casarusca.com/ Nicolo Rusconi — Founder & Operator | Casa Rusca Create Casa Rusca — Los Angeles Founder · Operator · Advisor ## I build places and companies designed to outlast their moment. For fifteen years I have worked at the intersection of real estate, hospitality, culture, technology, and human behavior — from restoring a 1933 landmark hotel to creating a members' club in a Downtown warehouse, and now building Superform, a new operating system for human performance. The industries change. The work does not: align vision, capital, design, culture and operations around an idea worth building. Through Casa Rusca I selectively advise founders, investors and institutions creating ventures that must perform commercially, matter culturally, and endure. Nicolo Rusconi Founder & CEO, Superform Partner & Owner, The Georgian Hotel Board Member, Los Angeles Conservation Corps Founder, Casa Rusca 15+ Years building $500M+ Project value 10+ Years of board service 4 Operating domains Real estate · Hospitality · Technology · Human behavior 01 Present ## What I’m building now Superform is building an operating system for human performance: a proprietary intelligence engine and a flagship facility designed to turn fragmented health and performance data into clear, adaptive action. Superform brings together laboratory diagnostics, wearable data, physical assessments, and daily behavior to build a more complete picture of the person—and translate it into guidance that changes as they do. The digital platform is paired with a flagship facility in Southern California where assessment, coaching, and hospitality come together under one roof. I founded the company and serve as CEO. The team brings experience from Meta, Apple, Tesla, and Point72, with academic roots at Stanford and MIT. Our thesis is simple: most health technology is very good at collecting data and too confident about what it means. The durable advantage belongs to the company willing to distinguish what is known, what is inferred, and what remains uncertain—and to make that rigor feel like hospitality, not a lab report. 02 Practice ## How I work with founders, owners, and institutions Four disciplines. Usually one problem. An ambitious venture only works when the place, the experience, the capital, and the governance reinforce one another. Most engagements begin in one discipline and quickly cross all four — and increasingly they cross a fifth, since I am building an AI company and can tell a working capability from a convincing slide. i · Built environment ## What the site can become The gap between what a site can legally become, what the market will support, and what the place deserves is where the real work begins. - Land-use strategy, entitlements, and city planning - Adaptive reuse and historic restoration - Owner-side design, architecture, and development - First-of-kind approvals and construction systems ii · Experience ## The part people remember A competent project satisfies the program. A memorable one creates attachment. That comes from carrying a clear idea through design, service, food, language, and the small decisions most teams stop defending when the budget tightens. - Concept, positioning, and narrative - Hospitality, membership, and guest experience - Food and beverage strategy, operations, and California compliance - Knowing which details to protect—and which to release iii · Capital ## The structure behind the ambition I invest personally and help structure capital for others. The objective is not simply to close. It is to choose terms and partners that preserve the venture’s ability to make good decisions later. I treat every introduction as an expenditure of trust and make them only when I would stand behind the opportunity myself. - Capital raising, strategy, and investor positioning - Public-private structures, joint ventures, and recapitalizations - CMBS and private financing - Family offices, institutional and sovereign capital, and private equity iv · Governance ## Structure that earns trust Governance is not the enemy of a creative company. It is what allows ambition to survive growth, scrutiny, and changes in leadership. I bring more than a decade of nonprofit board service and an operator’s understanding of what decision-grade reporting must accomplish. - Independent director and board observer roles - Investor reporting and compliance frameworks - Governance for venture- and private-equity-backed companies - Quiet support for first-time chief executives Read the full mandate → · Run First Pencil, the feasibility screen → 03 Interval The work is not to fill every space. It is to make the structure sound, the economics honest, and the essential idea unmistakable. In The Book of Tea , Okakura Kakuzō describes the tea room as deliberately unfinished—a space left for the visitor’s imagination to complete. Okakura Kakuzō · The Book of Tea · 1906 Then leave room for the right people to complete it. That requires someone in the room willing to say plainly what the numbers will, and will not, support. I have raised capital from family offices that think in generations and funds measured in quarters. I have restored a 1933 hotel and am now building an intelligence platform for human performance. Across each, the discipline is the same: identify what is load-bearing, defend it without apology, and spend nothing on what is not. 04 Works ## Built Hotels, clubs, restaurants, and technology platforms—many developed through BLVD Hospitality, which I joined as a partner in 2013. Different categories. The same test: the idea had to be worth experiencing, and the economics had to hold. 01 Superform 2024 — Los Angeles AI & human performance Founder & CEO A digital platform and Southern California flagship powered by an intelligence engine that integrates wearable data, laboratory diagnostics, physical assessments, and daily behavior into guidance that adapts to the individual. 02 The Georgian Hotel Santa Monica Historic restoration Partner & owner Michelin Key A 1933 Art Deco landmark overlooking the Pacific, reimagined and reopened in 2023. Jon Blanchard and I led the restoration from concept through operations and continue to own it with a small group of partners. 03 Soho Warehouse Arts District Adaptive reuse Members’ club & hotel A 1916 plumbing-supply warehouse transformed into Soho House’s Los Angeles members’ club: seven stories, 48 rooms, and a rooftop pool in the heart of the Arts District. 04 The Hoxton, Downtown LA Downtown Los Angeles Hospitality development The Hoxton’s first Los Angeles hotel, bringing a European hospitality brand to a historic Broadway building at a moment when Downtown was still being rediscovered. 05 citizenM Downtown LA 4th & Spring Modular construction 315 rooms Los Angeles’ first modular high-rise—and the first on the West Coast. Its 315 rooms were manufactured off-site and assembled eleven stories high, requiring a new path through one of the country’s most demanding seismic codes. 06 NeueHouse Venice Venice, California Adaptive reuse Workspace & culture An adaptive reuse that gave an existing Venice building a second life as a members’ workspace and cultural venue. Also: Supermassive Corp · Chicas Tacos · Pax Obscura — the full ledger → 05 Public ## Civic Cities are the longest-dated assets we inherit. This is the work I do without an economic interest. Board Member · Current · 10+ years ## Los Angeles Conservation Corps One of California’s largest service-based nonprofit organizations, creating paid work, education, and career pathways for young people while delivering conservation and community projects across Los Angeles. Council Member · Current ## ULI Los Angeles — HEDC A cross-sector council focused on hospitality, entertainment, sports, and destination-driven development. I currently co-lead a committee examining the state and future of Los Angeles’ visitor economy. Advisory · Past ## Bringing Back Broadway A $40 million city-led initiative to reactivate Downtown Los Angeles’ historic Broadway corridor through restoration, transit, public-realm improvements, and adaptive reuse. The program helped catalyze nearly $1 billion in investment and return more than one million square feet of historic space to use. Advisory Committee · Current ## Santa Monica Conservancy The organisation that protects the architecture and stories giving Santa Monica its continuity. I sit on its Advisory Committee. Its archival research informed the Georgian’s restoration and helped us understand the building on its own terms. Previously: the Third Street Promenade Re-Envisioning Committee — an ad-hoc group convened during downtown Santa Monica's 40% vacancy. Contact ## Tell me what you're building. nico@casarusca.com Board opportunities, advisory engagements, and select investments all begin here. The messages I answer fastest are direct: what you are building, where it stands, why it matters, and what you want from me. ### https://casarusca.com/about/ About Nicolo Rusconi | Casa Rusca Create Casa Rusca — Los Angeles Casa Rusca / About ## Nicolo Rusconi I build places and companies at the intersection of real estate, hospitality, culture, technology, and human behavior. For fifteen years, the work has moved across categories while the discipline has remained the same: align vision, capital, design, and operations around something worth building. Today, I am the founder and CEO of Superform, a partner and owner of The Georgian Hotel, a board member of the Los Angeles Conservation Corps, and the founder of Casa Rusca, my selective advisory practice. Los Angeles, California 01 Record ## The path here In 2013, I joined Jon Blanchard as a partner in BLVD Hospitality, the independent real estate development and operating platform he founded. As managing partner, I worked across land use, capital, design, construction, and operations on more than $500 million in project value, including Soho Warehouse, The Hoxton Downtown LA, citizenM, NeueHouse Venice, and The Georgian Hotel. In 2023, we reopened The Georgian, a 1933 Art Deco landmark on Ocean Avenue that we restored from concept through operations and continue to own with our partners. Since 2024, my primary operating focus has been Superform: a human performance company building a proprietary intelligence engine and a flagship assessment facility. The category is different, but the work is familiar—assemble the right people, make the capital and operating model honest, and protect the central idea through execution. Musashi’s final precepts contain a severe instruction: do nothing without purpose. It is both a rule of strategy and a theory of taste. Miyamoto Musashi · Dokkōdō · 1645 What I try to bring into a room is not more content. It is clearer judgment: identify what is load-bearing, say the uncomfortable number aloud, and leave the people who run the company enough room to finish the work. 02 Public ## Civic Cities are the longest-dated assets we inherit. This is the work I do without an economic interest. Board Member · Current · 10+ years ## Los Angeles Conservation Corps One of California’s largest service-based nonprofit organizations, creating paid work, education, and career pathways for young people while delivering conservation and community projects across Los Angeles. Advisory · Past ## Bringing Back Broadway A $40M city-led revitalisation of Downtown's Broadway corridor that catalysed close to $1B of investment and reactivated more than one million square feet of historic space. Council Member · Current ## ULI Los Angeles — HEDC A cross-sector council focused on hospitality, entertainment, sports, and destination-driven development. I currently co-lead a committee examining the state and future of Los Angeles’ visitor economy. Advisory Committee · Current ## Santa Monica Conservancy The organisation that protects the architecture and stories giving Santa Monica its continuity. I sit on its Advisory Committee. Its archival research informed the Georgian’s restoration and helped us understand the building on its own terms. Previously: the Third Street Promenade Re-Envisioning Committee — an ad-hoc group convened during downtown Santa Monica's 40% vacancy, whose recovery went on to drive 16%+ foot-traffic growth in 2023 and a $1B+ investment pipeline. 03 Plain ## Straight answers The questions I am actually asked, answered without ceremony. ## Who is Nicolo Rusconi? A founder, operator, board director and investor based in Los Angeles. I am the founder and CEO of Superform, a partner and owner of The Georgian Hotel in Santa Monica, and from 2013 to 2024 I was a partner and then managing partner of BLVD Hospitality, where I developed more than $500 million of hospitality and real estate. I have served on the board of the Los Angeles Conservation Corps for over a decade. I am a graduate of Loyola Marymount University. ## What is Casa Rusca? My practice, and this website. It is where the advisory work, board service and select investments live under one name, rather than a firm with staff and a fund. If you are engaging me, you are engaging me. ## What is Superform? A human performance company I founded in 2024 and run as chief executive. It pairs a proprietary intelligence engine—laboratory diagnostics, wearable data, physical assessment and daily behaviour—with a flagship assessment facility, the first of which opens in Thousand Oaks, California. I founded it with my brother Jagger Rusconi and Tommy Costello, and it is my primary operating focus. ## What did you do at BLVD Hospitality? Jon founded BLVD; I joined him as a partner in 2013. As managing partner through 2024 I worked across land use, capital, design, construction and operations on Soho Warehouse, The Hoxton Downtown LA, citizenM Downtown LA, NeueHouse Venice and The Georgian Hotel. The project record is here . ## Who restored The Georgian Hotel? Jon Blanchard and I envisioned it together and led the restoration from concept through opening, in partnership with ESI Ventures, with interiors by Fettle. The 1933 Art Deco building on Ocean Avenue reopened in April 2023 and now holds one MICHELIN Key. We continue to own it alongside a small group of partners and investors—there are several owners, not one. ## What makes citizenM Downtown LA notable? It was Los Angeles’ first modular high-rise, and the first on the West Coast. Opened in 2021 at 4th and Spring: 315 rooms, eleven storeys, a two-level concrete base carrying nine storeys of steel-framed guest-room modules built off-site and stacked by crane. The engineering was hard; permitting the method at that height in a severe seismic zone, where it had never been done, was harder. ## Are you taking board seats? Selectively. Independent director and board observer roles at venture- and private equity-backed companies, typically Series B and later; hospitality, real estate and consumer boards; and civic institutions, particularly in Los Angeles. What I bring to a board is set out here . Board service and investment stay separate decisions. Contact ## Get in touch. nico@casarusca.com Board opportunities, advisory engagements, select investments, and press inquiries all arrive in the same place. Tell me what you are working on and what you would want from me. ### https://casarusca.com/work/ Selected Work — Nicolo Rusconi | Casa Rusca Create Casa Rusca — Los Angeles Casa Rusca / Work ## Work Selected places and companies designed to endure—commercially, culturally, and operationally. Much of the work was developed with Jon Blanchard through BLVD Hospitality, which I joined as a partner in 2013 and led as managing partner until 2024. The rest applies the same operating discipline across human performance, infrastructure, food, and independent brands. Superform — flagship facility Interim image · new photography in progress Site superform.health ↗ Years 2024 — present Place Los Angeles, California Role Founder & Chief Executive Officer Category AI, health & performance Current ## Superform Superform is building an operating system for human performance: a digital platform and flagship facility powered by a proprietary intelligence engine that brings together laboratory diagnostics, wearable data, physical assessments, and daily behavior. Much of the work so far is intentionally invisible: assembling a technical, scientific, medical, and performance team; designing a compliant data architecture; and building the discipline required for a health company to distinguish clearly between what is measured, what is inferred, and what remains uncertain. The Georgian — Ocean Avenue, Santa Monica Photograph by Douglas Friedman Site thegeorgian.com ↗ Place Ocean Avenue, Santa Monica Role Partner & owner · Managing Partner, BLVD Hospitality Built 1933 · Art Deco, eight storeys Reopened April 2023 Recognition One MICHELIN Key · T+L 100 Best New Hotels · LABJ Hotel Deal of the Year Owner · Michelin Key ## The Georgian Hotel A 1933 Art Deco landmark and an unmistakable turquoise presence on Ocean Avenue. Jon Blanchard and I envisioned the restoration together and led it from concept through opening, in partnership with ESI Ventures and with interiors by Fettle. The Georgian reopened in April 2023 and now holds one Michelin Key. We continue to own it with a small group of partners and investors. The restoration was grounded in archival research conducted with the Santa Monica Conservancy. The objective was not to create a period set. It was to return a living hotel to the city—one that carried its history forward while operating confidently in the present. Rooftop, Soho Warehouse — Arts District Site sohohouse.com ↗ Place 1000 S. Santa Fe Avenue, Arts District Role Managing Partner, BLVD Hospitality Built 1916 warehouse · opened October 2019 Category Adaptive reuse · Members' club & hotel Recognition LABJ Gold Medal CRE Award · SoCal Development Forum Citation Award Hospitality ## Soho Warehouse A 1916 plumbing-supply warehouse transformed into Soho House’s Los Angeles members’ club: seven stories, 48 bedrooms, a two-story gym, and a rooftop pool overlooking the city. The project helped demonstrate that the Arts District could support a global hospitality and membership brand. The central design challenge was preserving the industrial character of the building through the conversion rather than decorating over it. The Hoxton — Downtown Los Angeles Site thehoxton.com ↗ Place Downtown Los Angeles Role Managing Partner, BLVD Hospitality Category Hospitality development Recognition #1 Los Angeles Hotel on TripAdvisor, 2020 Hospitality ## The Hoxton, Downtown LA The Hoxton’s first Los Angeles hotel, bringing a European hospitality brand to a historic Downtown building on a block many underwriters still viewed cautiously. The project was delivered, opened, and stabilized as part of Broadway’s continuing revival. citizenM — 4th & Spring Site citizenm.com ↗ Place 4th & Spring, Downtown Los Angeles Role Managing Partner, BLVD Hospitality Opened 2021 · 315 rooms, eleven storeys Category Modular construction · Hotel Firsts LA's first modular high-rise; first on the West Coast Recognition ALIS Development of the Year, Select/Limited Service First of its kind ## citizenM Downtown LA Los Angeles’ first modular high-rise—and the first on the West Coast. A two-level concrete base supports nine stories of steel-framed guest-room modules manufactured off-site and assembled by crane at 4th and Spring. The crane was not the difficult part. Los Angeles had never permitted the method at that height in a severe seismic zone. The real work was engineering, documenting, financing, and arguing a new construction system into existence with a city, lender, and operator that each had valid reasons to be cautious. NeueHouse Venice Photograph by Yoshihiro Makino Site neuehouse.com ↗ Place Market Street, Venice, California Role Managing Partner, BLVD Hospitality Category Adaptive reuse · Workspace & culture Workspace & culture ## NeueHouse Venice A 1922 brick building on Market Street, plus an annexed warehouse, turned into NeueHouse’s Venice house — roughly 23,000 square feet of workspace, lounges, meeting rooms, broadcast studios and a restaurant. The street had a life before us: Tony Bill ran a production facility out of the building in the seventies, and Market Street held studios for Michael Heizer, Robert Irwin and Larry Bell, and Larry Gagosian’s first Los Angeles gallery. Interiors by DesignAgency with Loescher Meachem Architects. The brief was to add to that history rather than paper over it. Supermassive Corp Years 2017 — 2020 Place New York & Los Angeles Role Co-founder & Real Estate Partner Category Facility development Infrastructure ## Supermassive Corp The real estate platform behind a digital-asset infrastructure company. I identified, structured, and delivered the physical facilities on which the platform depended—an emerging asset class with few underwriting precedents, limited lender appetite, and power and cooling requirements that eliminated most existing building stock. The category was new. The underlying problem was familiar: the building was only one component. The capital, infrastructure, approvals, and operating model around it determined whether the venture could work. Chicas Tacos — Downtown Los Angeles Site chicastacos.com ↗ Place Downtown Los Angeles Role Managing Partner, BLVD Hospitality Category Restaurant concept · leased locations Food & beverage ## Chicas Tacos BLVD Hospitality’s in-house food and beverage concept, built in leased spaces rather than inside properties we controlled. It was where I learned restaurant operations from the inside: labor, margins, permitting, compliance, and the particular demands California places on food and beverage businesses. That experience permanently changed how I think about designing hotels. Pax Obscura Place Los Angeles Role Founder Category Desert plant lifestyle brand Independent ## Pax Obscura An independent desert-plant lifestyle brand built entirely for pleasure. It grew from the same instinct behind my interest in historic buildings and antiquities: a preference for objects and places that gain character rather than lose it over time. Note Appendix ## A note on attribution The hospitality and real estate projects above were developed with Jon Blanchard through BLVD Hospitality, which Jon founded and I joined as a partner in 2013, except where otherwise noted. The full history → Kevin Lynch argued that people understand a city through a mental image of its paths, edges, districts, nodes, and landmarks. Every building either clarifies that image or weakens it. Kevin Lynch · The Image of the City · 1960 Contact ## Working on something like this? nico@casarusca.com Development, hospitality, a recapitalization, or a company that needs to become financeable without losing what made it interesting. Send the specifics and I will tell you quickly whether I am useful. ### https://casarusca.com/press/ Awards & Press — Nicolo Rusconi | Casa Rusca Create Casa Rusca — Los Angeles Casa Rusca / Awards & Press ## Awards & press Recognition earned by the projects, and the coverage that followed them. 01 Awards ## Awards - 2024 ## The first MICHELIN Key hotels MICHELIN Guide · The Georgian Hotel - 2024 ## The 100 Best New Hotels of the Year Travel + Leisure · The Georgian Hotel - 2022 ## Development of the Year, Select/Limited Service ALIS · citizenM Downtown LA - 2021 ## Gold Medal CRE Award LA Business Journal · Soho Warehouse - 2020 ## Hotel Deal of the Year LA Business Journal · The Georgian Hotel - 2020 ## Citation Award for Adaptive Reuse SoCal Development Forum · Soho Warehouse - 2020 ## #1 Los Angeles Hotel TripAdvisor · The Hoxton, Downtown LA 02 Interviews ## In my own words Interviews and coverage that quote me directly. A Hotel Life In conversation with Nicolo Rusconi A long interview on building, storytelling, and why architecture, real estate and hospitality are art forms. Robb Report Santa Monica’s Georgian Hotel Just Reopened With a New Art Deco Design “The Georgian is our baby” — on the first project where BLVD held the brand, design vision and operations end to end. Hotel Online BLVD Hospitality and ESI Ventures to Relaunch The Georgian The acquisition and restoration announcement, with Jon Blanchard and Nicolo Rusconi. Hotel News Resource BLVD Hospitality Acquires Santa Monica’s Historic Ocean Ave Hotel Coverage of the acquisition and the portfolio behind it. 03 Coverage ## The projects elsewhere Where the buildings are written about by people other than me. The Georgian Hotel ## Press archive ↗ The hotel’s own collection — Vogue, Condé Nast Traveler, Travel + Leisure, Hospitality Design and more. citizenM Downtown LA ## Project record ↗ The Modular Building Institute’s record of the first high-rise modular hotel on the West Coast. citizenM Downtown LA ## Construction case study ↗ How 315 rooms were manufactured off-site and stacked eleven storeys in a severe seismic zone. The Georgian has also appeared in Vogue , Condé Nast Traveler , Travel + Leisure , the Hollywood Reporter and the Los Angeles Times . The hotel keeps the fullest archive. Contact ## Press enquiries. nico@casarusca.com For interviews, commentary on hospitality and adaptive reuse, or anything about the projects above. ### https://casarusca.com/board/ Board Service — Nicolo Rusconi | Casa Rusca Create Casa Rusca — Los Angeles Casa Rusca / Board ## Board service I take a small number of board seats, in companies and institutions where brand, place and the people carrying them are central to whether the thing works. Fifteen years as a founder and operator. More than $500 million of hospitality and real estate developed. Over a decade on the board of one of California’s largest service-based nonprofits. 01 Contribution ## What I bring to a board Not a general-purpose director. These are the six things I can be specific about from the first conversation — and the reason to want me in the room rather than someone else. i ## Brand & experience Boards routinely treat brand and guest experience as marketing line items. In a place-based business they are the asset. I am useful where the question is what a company should feel like to encounter — and whether that conviction survives a budget cycle intact. ii ## Real estate & the built environment Land use, entitlement, adaptive reuse, construction and the operations that follow. Twelve years of it, including a first-of-kind modular high-rise and the restoration of a 1933 landmark. Most boards have nobody who has actually done this. iii ## AI, practically applied I am currently building an AI company, which means I can tell the difference between a real capability and a slide. Where the data is, what a model can honestly claim, what it costs to build and staff, and where it belongs in an operating business — and where it does not. iv ## Culture & people An operator’s read on the organisation beneath the plan: who is carrying it, whether the team matches the ambition, and what it costs a company culturally when it grows faster than it hires. v ## Capital & structure Public-private, family office and private equity structures, joint ventures and recapitalisations, and the reporting cadence that keeps investors informed without turning a chief executive into a reporting function. vi ## Community & place More than a decade of civic board service and land-use policy work in Los Angeles. Where a business depends on a neighbourhood accepting it, that is not public relations — it is a condition of operating. The most useful director is rarely the one with the most to say. It is the one willing to ask the question everybody else has quietly decided not to. I have sat on both sides of that table — as the chief executive being asked, and as the director asking. The boards that work agree the terms of candour in advance: real access, genuine preparation, and permission to disagree in the room rather than in the hallway afterwards. 02 Seats ## What I am open to Seeking ## Independent director & board observer Private companies backed by venture or private equity, typically Series B and later, where the board needs someone who has carried operating responsibility and sat across from institutional capital. Sectors ## Hospitality, real estate & consumer Hotel groups, operators, developers, food and beverage, and consumer brands where physical experience is the product rather than the packaging. Civic ## Civic & nonprofit Institutions whose work I already care about, particularly in Los Angeles, and particularly where the built environment and the community are the substance of the mission. I take few seats, read the materials before the meeting, and show up with a view. Board service and investment are separate decisions here, and I keep them that way. 03 Current ## Governance today 10+ yrs Los Angeles Conservation Corps Board member Current One of California’s largest service-based nonprofit organisations, creating paid work, education and career pathways for young people while delivering conservation and community projects across Los Angeles. Current ULI Los Angeles — HEDC Council member Committee co-lead The Urban Land Institute’s Hospitality & Entertainment Development Council for Los Angeles. I co-lead a committee examining the state and future of the city’s visitor economy. Current Santa Monica Conservancy Advisory Committee Current The organisation that protects the architecture and stories giving Santa Monica its continuity. Its archival research informed the Georgian’s restoration, and the building is better for it. Past Bringing Back Broadway Advisory A $40 million city-led initiative to reactivate Downtown Los Angeles’ historic Broadway corridor, which helped catalyse nearly $1 billion in investment. Past Third Street Promenade Re-Envisioning Committee member Santa Monica An ad-hoc committee convened to shape downtown Santa Monica’s repositioning through a period of 40% vacancy. The recovery went on to drive 16%+ foot-traffic growth in 2023 and a $1B+ investment pipeline. The full record of the work → · Awards & press → Contact ## Filling a seat? nico@casarusca.com Tell me the company, the stage, and the gap the board is trying to fill. If I am not the right person I will say so quickly, and where I can, point you toward someone who is. ### https://casarusca.com/advisory/ Strategic Advisory & Board Roles | Casa Rusca Create Casa Rusca — Los Angeles Casa Rusca / Advisory ## Advisory, board roles and investment Selective advisory for founders, owners, and institutions building ventures that are expensive to get wrong—and worth the discipline of getting right. Fifteen years as a founder and operator across more than $500 million in project value; over a decade of nonprofit board service; and experience aligning land, capital, design, operations, and governance around ambitious ideas. 01 Practice ## Where I am useful I am not a general-purpose advisor. These are four problems I have solved more than once and can be specific about from the first conversation. - ## Making an original idea financeable Founders often see the whole before anyone else can. Capital does not have to share the vision, but it must understand the opportunity, the risk, and the path forward. I help translate an original idea into a clear investment case, a credible model, and decision-ready materials without flattening what makes it valuable. - ## Capital structure before it becomes a constraint The terms chosen at the beginning determine which decisions remain available later. I work across joint ventures, recapitalizations, public-private structures, CMBS, and private financing to align the capital with the actual life of the asset. The least expensive time to solve a structural problem is before the term sheet. - ## Where AI belongs, and where it does not I am building an AI company, so I can tell a real capability from a slide. Most operating businesses do not need a model; they need their data in one place and one decision made better. I help work out which of the two you are looking at, what it honestly costs to build and staff, and what a system can defensibly claim — before anyone announces it. - ## Making place, experience, and economics reinforce one another Hotels, clubs, restaurants, and cultural spaces must be legally possible, operationally credible, financially durable, and worth entering. A beautiful room that cannot support its cost is an expensive photograph. A profitable one that nobody wants to return to has a shorter life than the model suggests. Marcus Aurelius returned repeatedly to the same idea: stop debating the qualities of a good person and practice them. A board exists for the same reason— to turn stated principles into decisions. Marcus Aurelius · Meditations · c. 170 I have sat on both sides of the table: as the chief executive being asked and as the director asking. The engagements that work establish the terms of candor in advance—a defined mandate, real access, and permission to disagree in the room rather than in the hallway afterward. 02 Terms ## How engagements work Every engagement begins with a written mandate: one consequential question, a defined term, clear access, and an agreed decision process. Most require two to four days a month for six to twelve months. Compensation may be equity, a retainer, or both; the structure should make the incentives as clear as the work. Before any of that: run your deal through First Pencil, the free feasibility screen → 03 Domains ## Where the experience is real My experience is deepest where physical assets, operating companies, and institutional capital meet. i ## Hospitality & real estate Land use, entitlement, capital, design, construction, and the operations on top. More than $500 million in project value developed with Jon Blanchard through BLVD Hospitality, including Soho Warehouse, The Hoxton DTLA, citizenM, NeueHouse Venice, and The Georgian Hotel. ii ## Human performance & applied AI Founder and CEO of Superform, building an intelligence engine over wearable data, laboratory diagnostics, physical assessments and daily behaviour. The central challenge is never collecting more data — it is turning evidence into useful guidance without overstating what the evidence supports. That discipline transfers to any business being sold an AI capability it cannot yet evaluate. iii ## First-of-kind projects Los Angeles’ first modular high-rise, a 1933 landmark returned to service, and the facilities behind a digital-asset infrastructure company. Getting a city, lender, investor, and operator to accept a method none has approved before is a distinct operating discipline. The full ledger of work → 04 Dialogue ## Questions I am asked The work is intentionally selective. I am most useful where an original idea is becoming an institution—and where the consequences of an early structural decision will compound over time. ## What kind of board roles do you consider? Independent director and board observer roles, and directorships at nonprofits whose work I already care about. Board service is a longer commitment than an advisory mandate and I treat it as one — the detail is on the board page . ## What stage and sector are a fit? Seed through growth across hospitality, real estate, consumer, food and beverage, human performance, and applied AI. The common thread is consequence: companies where a wrong structural decision is expensive and slow to unwind. ## How is an advisory engagement structured? A written mandate with a defined question, term, level of access, and decision process—typically two to four days a month for six to twelve months. Compensation may be equity, a retainer, or both, depending on which structure creates the clearest alignment. ## Do you invest? Yes, selectively and personally, generally at an early stage. I also help structure joint ventures, recapitalizations, CMBS, and private financing. I make introductions to family offices and institutional investors only when I am prepared to stand behind the opportunity myself. ## Where are you based? Los Angeles, California. I work with companies across the United States and accept a small number of engagements so that each one receives real attention. Contact ## Start with the specifics. nico@casarusca.com Tell me what you are building, where it stands, why it matters, and what you want from me. If it is not a fit, I will say so quickly—and, where I can, point you toward someone better suited to the work. ### https://casarusca.com/tools/feasibility/ Hotel & Adaptive-Reuse Feasibility Calculator | First Pencil Create Casa Rusca — Los Angeles Casa Rusca / Tools / First Pencil ## First Pencil A feasibility screen for adaptive-reuse and hotel projects. Set the numbers; it answers the only first question that matters — does it pencil — and tells you what a lender and an LP would say before you hear it in a meeting. Free · Runs entirely in your browser · Nothing you enter leaves this page Casa Rusca — First Pencil Feasibility screen · casarusca.com/tools/feasibility · ## The deal What kind of deal is this? Stabilized acquisition Value-add renovation Ground-up / heavy redevelopment The building Keys keys Purchase price $ M Renovation, all-in $ k / key Contingency on reno % The operation Stabilized ADR $ Stabilized occupancy % Ancillary revenue, % of rooms % Operating expenses, % of revenue % The debt Debt, % of cost % Interest rate % Amortization 30-year amortization 25-year amortization Interest only Timeline & exit Construction period mo Hold period yr NOI growth per year % / yr Exit cap rate % Downside case, applied automatically: 10% cost overrun · six months late · NOI 7.5% below plan · exit cap 50 bps wider · debt 75 bps more expensive. Held constant: closing costs 1.5% of price · FF&E reserve 4% of revenue · selling costs 2% at exit · construction interest on an average 60% draw. Exit values the following year's NOI at the cap rate. Equity funds at close; operations begin when construction ends. Print / save as PDF Copy link to this scenario Reset ## Asset economics Capital structure Downside case Total project cost Cost per key RevPAR Stabilized NOI Yield on cost Spread to exit cap Value at exit cap Value per key Development margin Equity required Levered IRR Equity multiple Construction interest DSCR Debt yield ## What would have to change ## Assumptions worth a second look This is a screen, not an appraisal, an offer, or investment advice. It exists to make the first conversation honest — every number in it should be replaced by your own underwriting before any decision. Built by Nicolo Rusconi from fifteen years of hearing what credit committees actually say. 01 Method ## How to read the numbers The screen judges two things separately, because they fail for different reasons and are fixed in different ways. Asset economics asks whether the building creates value and returns enough for the risk taken. Capital structure asks whether the loan as proposed can actually be financed. The overall verdict is the weaker of the two — but a sound building carrying too much debt is reported as a financing problem, not a bad building. ## What is yield on cost, and why does it matter more than a cap rate? Stabilized net operating income divided by total project cost — what the building earns on every dollar you put into it, once it is running normally. It is the single most useful number in development, because unlike a cap rate it does not depend on anyone else's opinion of the asset. A development that cannot beat the cap rate it will eventually sell at has not created anything. ## What spread to the exit cap should a development target? Yield on cost minus the cap rate you expect at sale, in basis points — your compensation for taking construction, entitlement and lease-up risk instead of buying a finished building. The conventional target for a renovation is 150–250 bps ; the screen treats 150–199 as sound, 200–299 as room, and 300+ as exceptional. Anything under 150 is thin, not normal, and under zero the deal is more expensive than buying the finished asset. Development margin measures the same value creation from the other side — roughly the spread divided by the exit cap rate. Both are shown because both are read in practice, but the screen counts them once, as a single value-creation pillar, rather than treating them as two independent confirmations. ## What development margin should an adaptive reuse project target? Value at the exit cap, less selling costs, less total project cost — as a percentage of cost. It answers "what did the risk earn." 15–25% is the usual band for adaptive reuse. Below 10% there is no room for the structural surprise that adaptive reuse reliably produces, and which you only discover after you own the building. ## What DSCR do hotel lenders require? Net operating income divided by annual debt service — the first ratio a credit committee looks at, and the one that sizes your loan. Conventional hotel lending is currently seeking around 1.40x . The screen reads 1.35–1.49 as financeable on ordinary terms, 1.50–1.74 as clearing without conversation, and below 1.35 as financeable only with structure — interest reserves, guarantees, or a smaller loan than you modelled. ## What is debt yield, and why do lenders rely on it? Net operating income divided by the loan amount — the lender's return if they took the keys tomorrow. Because it ignores both interest rates and cap rates it survives a repricing, which is why lenders trust it most. Conventional hotel debt is priced against roughly 12% . Between 10% and 12% a loan is financeable but capital-source dependent; under 10% lenders shrink it regardless of what loan-to-cost says. ## How much will a bank lend against hotel construction? Banks financing hotel construction generally lend to around 65% of cost , with occasional executions near 70%. Above that you are in private credit, and should price the debt accordingly rather than assume bank terms. Leverage is scored as its own credit test here, because a deal can clear coverage and still be over-levered for the lender you are counting on. ## What IRR should a hotel project return? The annualised return on the equity, accounting for when every dollar moves — equity out at close, nothing during construction, cash flow once the building operates, and the sale at the end. Hurdles are not universal, so the screen sets them by strategy: a stabilized acquisition is judged against a lower bar than a value-add renovation , and ground-up development against a bar roughly five points higher again. Hurdles also scale down with leverage, since these are levered-equity returns and an unlevered deal should not be penalised for prudence. Time is the hidden variable: a long build pushes every dollar further away and the IRR falls even though the profit does not. ## Why read the equity multiple alongside IRR? Total cash returned divided by cash invested. IRR rewards speed; the multiple rewards magnitude, and the two disagree often enough that serious investors read both. The screen sets the multiple hurdle from the hold period, so a short hold cannot manufacture a flattering IRR on a thin multiple — and scores the return pillar on whichever of the two is weaker. ## Why do the assumptions matter more than the answer? Every number above is downstream of ADR, occupancy and operating margin. Move stabilized occupancy four points and the whole picture changes. Flags are therefore graded, and act as ceilings rather than penalties: one or two material assumptions cap the verdict at “with room”, three or more cap it at “normal risk”, and a single critical assumption — one no market reliably delivers — caps it at “barely” until it is resolved. Minor flags are disclosed and nothing more. A home run additionally has to survive a downside case: a 10% cost overrun, six months late, NOI 7.5% below plan, the exit cap 50 bps wider and debt 75 bps more expensive. A deal that only works if nothing goes wrong is not a home run. ## Is this feasibility calculator free, and is my data private? Yes to both. It is free, and it runs entirely in your browser — the arithmetic happens on your machine, and no figure you enter is transmitted, stored or logged anywhere. There is no account, no analytics on the inputs, and nothing to opt out of. It is a screening tool: it tells you quickly whether something is worth a real model, and it is not a substitute for institutional underwriting. Contact ## Screening something real? nico@casarusca.com If the screen says no and you think it is wrong — or it says yes and you want it to survive diligence — tell me what the building is. See why ↓ ### https://casarusca.com/notes/ Notes — Nicolo Rusconi | Casa Rusca Create Casa Rusca — Los Angeles Casa Rusca / Notes ## Notes Occasional essays on the work — building places and companies designed to outlast their moment. Two essays, newest first. Each notes where and when it first appeared. 2026 JUL 13 Building Superform Announcement Human performance First published on LinkedIn A new system for understanding human health and performance — what two years of quiet building were for, and why the first door opens in Thousand Oaks. 2024 DEC 13 The Next Chapter Departure letter On leaving BLVD First published on LinkedIn Ten years, five buildings, and the dash of magic they don’t teach in school — written on the day I left BLVD Hospitality to start what became Casa Rusca. Contact ## Tell me what you're building. nico@casarusca.com ### https://casarusca.com/notes/the-next-chapter/ The Next Chapter — Nicolo Rusconi | Casa Rusca Create Casa Rusca — Los Angeles Casa Rusca / Notes / The Next Chapter ## The Next Chapter Ten years, five buildings, and the decision to build alone. December 13, 2024 · First published on LinkedIn After 10 remarkable years together, and with a heavy heart, Jon and I have made the difficult decision for my departure from BLVD Hospitality. I remember our start vividly. Jon had just brought back to life the incredible United Artists Building and Theatre as the world renowned Ace Hotel DTLA. I was a young, aspiring entrepreneur in my early 20s balancing classes at Loyola Marymount University with professional exploration. I was in love with downtown LA — its architecture, history, culture, and perhaps most importantly, its momentum and potential. Jon was the embodiment of that. He had an extraordinary ability to envision the future of a neighborhood, and fortunately he saw a similar instinct in me. I learned about land-use, city planning, design and architecture, capital raising, finance, hospitality, and perhaps most importantly, that dash of magic that sits on top of what they teach you in school — the magic that transforms a building or hotel into something truly extraordinary. Over the subsequent decade, we developed some of the most transformative hospitality properties in Los Angeles — Soho Warehouse, The Hoxton, NeueHouse Venice, LA’s first modular construction high-rise for citizenM, and most recently The Georgian in Santa Monica. We built a team of some of the most talented and equally inspired people I’ve ever met who stood by our side as we pushed to make the impossible possible day in and day out. Success requires hard work, drive, and passion, but I agree with those that say it also requires a great deal of luck. I have been one of the luckiest people to be a part of BLVD these past 10 years and to learn so much from Jon Blanchard and everyone else whom I’ve had the honor of working with. I am especially proud of what we’ve created at The Georgian. The ups and downs associated with acquiring, designing, restoring, and running a hotel like that pushed me to the deepest parts of my personal and professional potential, and I could not be more proud of the hotel that it is today. I have such a deep appreciation and respect for every person that’s been a part of that journey. I will be maintaining my ownership and creative involvement in The Georgian, and I remain extremely excited about the future of a hotel that holds such a special place in my heart. Recently, I realized that my next chapter calls for a deeper exploration of my independence to fully realize my own potential as an entrepreneur, a leader, and creator. I’m excited to take what I’ve learned at BLVD and forge new paths, exploring my own creative vision and the impact I want to have in this industry and in this world. While I look forward to more time with my amazing wife and our beautiful new baby boy, I will also be working out of a new office in downtown Los Angeles — working on my next chapter of meaningful growth and creation. I am deeply grateful to Jon and the BLVD family for this past decade. While this chapter closes, my commitment to creating remarkable spaces and businesses that inspire and uplift is stronger than ever. There is much more to come — I still intend on changing the world. With my deepest sincerity, Nico Rusconi ← All notes Next · Building Superform (July 2026) → Contact ## Tell me what you're building. nico@casarusca.com ### https://casarusca.com/notes/building-superform/ Building Superform — Nicolo Rusconi | Casa Rusca Create Casa Rusca — Los Angeles Casa Rusca / Notes / Building Superform ## Building Superform A new system for understanding human health and performance. July 13, 2026 · First published on LinkedIn Almost 2 years ago now, I wrote about the closing of one chapter and the beginning of another. I shared that I was stepping away from BLVD Hospitality after 10 remarkable years to more deeply explore my independence as an entrepreneur, a leader, and a creator. I wrote that there was much more to come, and that I still intended on changing the world. Today, I’m incredibly excited to finally share what I have been building, thinking about, obsessing over, and spending many long hours on throughout these past 2 years: Superform. Superform is a health and performance company built around a simple belief: the better we understand ourselves, the better decisions we can make about how we train, recover, perform, and live. When me, my brother Jagger Rusconi, and Tommy Costello first started talking about Superform, we decided we were not trying to build another gym, another clinic, or another technology platform. We kept coming back to a much simpler question: why is it still so difficult for people to develop a clear understanding of their own health? Most people already have valuable information. Blood work, wearables, body composition scans, fitness assessments, physicians, coaches, and specialists can each provide an important part of the picture. The challenge is that those pieces are usually fragmented, and it can be incredibly difficult to understand what they actually mean, how they relate to one another, and whether you are meaningfully improving over time. That became the foundation for everything we have built. This fall, we will open our first Superform location in Thousand Oaks, California. We are creating a place designed specifically for comprehensive health and performance assessment, where someone can walk through one door, establish a trusted baseline through consistent, high-fidelity measurement, and continue returning over time to better understand how their biology is evolving. But the physical space is only one part of the vision. What we are ultimately building is a new system for understanding human health and performance over time. One that brings together diagnostics, body composition, cardiovascular capacity, strength, movement, metabolic health, cognition, wearable data, and other important signals into a continuously evolving picture of the individual. My hope has never been that Superform becomes another voice telling people what to do. It is that we help people see themselves more clearly, ask better questions, understand what is changing, and feel more confident making decisions alongside the physicians, coaches, practitioners, and people they already trust. I am especially proud of the team we have assembled around this vision. We have brought together people with deep experience across medicine, performance science, coaching, technology, design, hospitality, culture, and company building. Each person has challenged and expanded the idea in ways I could not have done alone, and what excites me most is not any single part of Superform, but what becomes possible when all of these disciplines genuinely work together. In many ways, Superform feels like a serendipitous convergence of my personal and professional journey. Over the course of my career, I have worked across hospitality, real estate, health and performance, technology, and civic leadership. For a long time, those interests felt connected to me, even if the connection was not always obvious from the outside. My experience building places and experiences taught me how physical environments shape the way people feel and behave. Hospitality taught me the importance of trust, detail, service, and the often intangible magic that turns a space into something meaningful. Building brands taught me the power of story and identity. My own lifelong interest in health and performance taught me how difficult it can be to separate signal from noise. And my growing interest in technology has reinforced my belief that the best technology should deepen our understanding of ourselves and make the physical world more human, not replace it. I believe that when people better understand themselves, they are better equipped to take ownership of their health and their life. And when better decisions compound over years and decades, the implications for how we live, perform, and age are profound. There is still an enormous amount of work ahead of us, but I could not be more excited about the team we have built, the vision we are pursuing, and the future we are working toward. If you would like to learn more about Superform , or if you see potential synergy with your business, organization, or work, please do not hesitate to reach out. I would genuinely love to connect. There is much more to come. Nico ← Previous · The Next Chapter (December 2024) All notes Contact ## Tell me what you're building. nico@casarusca.com --- End of file. Canonical source: https://casarusca.com/