The Wood Partners Ground Floor Project was developed through a number of interesting discussions that led to a process of trying to understand the DNA of Los Angeles, Portland, San Francisco and Seattle and then serving up something that responded to what we found.  We were not foolish enough to think we could make this trip alone – we pulled together a team of musicians and artists and foodies and went deep into spaces that were best accessed in the middle of the night.  It was in those places that we think we found what makes these cities tick – independent expression, individual freedom and an interesting level of credibility and substance supporting things that could just be thoughtless ventures in other markets.  We decided to build something that could open the doors and let that spirit in…a co-mingling of sorts that could lead to extraordinary ad–hoc events. A long shot to say the least, but one that we are taking.

 

The team then developed relationships with various members of the cultural community that could help us switch on this place in a way that may just fill a void that no one knew was there.  We call it the Ground Floor Project, as it's a perpetual work in progress based on the interests of our residents and implemented by our creative staff.  We have decided that music, food and art are a good starting point and we are working on some pretty inspiring things for a number of our projects in the next few months –  organic food, undiscovered music and a variety of cultural art endeavors are what we envision.  

 

In the past year, the Ground Floor Project has debuted at our communities in Chicago, Atlanta, Miami, Dallas, and more. To experience a small slice of what happened in Los Angeles and in Seattle — and what we are bringing to our communities across the country — is shown below as we christened this experimental initiative during the past three years.  Take a quick glimpse: