Q&A With Convene's New Director Of Real Estate Peter Sellick
It has been a busy and banner year for workplace solutions provider Convene.
Just this year, the New York-based company has raised $152M in a Series D funding round, acquired an analytics company and penetrated the West Coast market for the first time, opening locations at Brookfield’s Wells Fargo Center and 777 Tower in downtown Los Angeles. Convene also launched a new product offering to help building landlords and owners design, build and/or manage flexible work and amenity spaces.
The company continues to grow, and to help facilitate that growth Convene has hired former Savills Studley Manager and Director Peter Sellick as its new director of real estate, West region.
Sellick, who will split his time between Los Angeles and San Francisco, will be responsible for growing the hospitality, events and flexible workspace provider's presence on the West Coast.
Bisnow caught up with Sellick, who was hired in August, to discuss his new role at Convene and the company’s expansion plans into the next year and beyond.
Bisnow: First off, why did you join Convene? What did you see that attracted you to join the company?
Sellick: This was a chance to be able to transform buildings, change the way people are operating and how to change space and how people work. That was one of the big drivers for me, to be part of that. There’s this huge opportunity for growth in this market — the California or West Coast market.
Bisnow: Convene CEO and co-founder Ryan Simonetti has mentioned the importance of growing the company on the West Coast. With that said, what other submarkets in Los Angeles, California or the Western region are you scouting for Convene?
Sellick: We have a lot of great partners. We have the new managed workplace product solutions. We are very actively looking at west Los Angeles. The Westside is a big key market for us — Century City, Santa Monica, Brentwood, West Hollywood. These are markets that have tremendous growth and are key strategic markets ... We're also seeing opportunities in Orange County, San Diego. San Francisco is incredibly important for us now. Seattle is another market that we want to establish a presence in as well.
Bisnow: Last question, what are some of the challenges Convene is facing on the West Coast?
Sellick: The market pressure. San Francisco, downtown LA and the Westside of LA are very expensive markets ... but there are a lot of opportunities for us as well and a real opportunity for our partners to do well. It is about education and appreciating what a high-quality hospitality vendor could bring — a total experience for their workers.
