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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