WHO AND WHAT TO KNOW NOW A ROUNDUP OF BOUT I QUE AND L I FES T YLE NEWS By Katie Kervin A RENDER I NG OF THE RAD I CAL' S LOBBY SUOMI DESIGN WORKS FOUNDER MICHAEL SUOMI DETAILS UPCOMING RADICAL HOTEL IN ASHEVILLE How did you get involved in the Radical project? We were invited to compete by the ownership group right after the pandemic started. The developer, Hatteras Sky, has a fi nancial background, and the brief was unique. I was intrigued because it was clearly not written by a project manager but one of the owners, who had very specifi c passions and ideas. My team and I put together an initial content presentation. What is the Radical bringing to Asheville? [Hatteras Sky] had been working on this Radical project, as well as a couple of other deals, before they offi cially launched their company. They're focused in Asheville, and their intent is to build six hotels there, along with other projects in the U.S. There's been a lot of hotel construction in the last several years, but it's been predominantly hard brands and mostly select service. There's very few independent boutique hotels. 22 FALL 2 0 2 2 TR ENDING PHOTOS AND RENDERINGS: DAVID MITCHELL AND COURTESY OF SUOMI DESIGN WORKS