ON THE COVER

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14 | MAY 12 • 2022

Todd Sachse: Collins Dictionary
named NFT its word of the year for
2021, so we’re already a year behind the
trend. We’re hoping our NFT drop will
bring our residents together not only
in the physical buildings in which they
live, but also in Web 3.

HOW DID YOU LEARN ABOUT
NFTS AND WHAT MADE YOU
DECIDE TO PURSUE THEM?
Rich Broder: Each of our Detroit
properties has a strong art program
in place showcasing amazing local
artists. The natural progression for
our collection is to leverage our
physical artwork collection into
NFTs. What’s cool about our first
NFT project is that we’re minting
unique slices of each piece to gift to
our residents. The community will be
invested.
Todd Sachse: My introduction into
the world of crypto happened recently
on a plane. I was sitting next to David
Bleznak, from Coinbase, one of the
smartest people in the space. During
the two-and-a-half hour flight, David
gave me a crypto/NFT 101 tutorial,
and I felt like I was back in the1990s
learning how to log onto the world
wide web. I became fascinated with
the blockchain applications of NFTs;
and the second we landed, I created a
wallet and began thinking of ways to
leverage this technology and share it
with residents at our properties.

WHY ARE YOUNGER PEOPLE
RECOGNIZING NFTS AS
INVESTMENTS?
Rich Broder: We see our NFT drop as
a win/win. We’re really hoping these
NFTs will present a new way for our
residents to support local artists and
for these Detroit artists to take their
creativity to the next level and reach
new fans. We’re introducing our
residents to the world of crypto and
providing another outlet for art fans
to meet and support artists they know
and love.

Todd Sachse: It’s like a lottery ticket.
If an artist becomes successful down
the line, the NFT they own could be
quite valuable.
Moody Mattan: The younger
generation has always been collecting
things to buy/sell/trade, whether it
be Beanie Babies, sports cards or
sneakers. NFTs are the new digital
collectible that you can buy/sell/trade
digitally very easily, kind of like a
stock. Detroiters looking to diversify
their investments should pay attention
to crypto and NFTs as a new asset
class. There is a lot of “new money”
being made.

CAN YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR
PARTNERSHIP WITH DETROIT
ARTISTS TO CREATE NFTS?
Todd Sachse: We’re so fortunate to
partner with three amazing Detroit
artists on this initiative. Eric Lowry
(El Cappy), our Artist in Residence
at The Scott at Brush Park, is a self-
taught artist who has been breaking
through not only the contemporary
art scene, but the fashion industry as
well. He has gained popularity from
his work idolizing pop culture with
his own imaginative edge.
Olivia Guterson, is our Artist in
Residence at The Albert. She is a
multi-disciplinary artist and mother.
Primarily through black ink, her
compositions are deeply personal
investigations of truth influenced by
geometric abstraction, remembrance,
ancestral patterns and their relation to
the natural world.
Chris Turner is our Artist in
Residence at The Hamilton. He is a
graduate of Cass Tech and Detroit
Public Schools. Through an early
appreciation of art, Chris developed
his artistic voice as a skilled
tradesman and is best known for his
large-scale sculpture work within the
design community.
Rich Broder: These diverse and
talented artists represent Detroit.
The artwork we commissioned from

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