In Process: Chesnut Properties
The family-owned San Diego-based development company’s new site showcases their unique approach and legacy.
Chesnut Properties was founded by Lee Chesnut in the 1990s during a financial disaster. He realized during this time that unique opportunities could — and would — present themselves to those willing to take a risk.
He was right. Over the past 30 years, Lee has successfully acquired, repositioned, and/or built numerous properties totaling over 1,250,000 square feet and representing complex high-performance life-science buildings, large-scale corporate buildings, landmark above Class A buildings, and industry-leading sustainable projects.
Their existing website didn’t reflect the company’s legacy — and Lee wanted to change that. WOTW had the pleasure of working with Lee and the Chesnut Properties team in early 2021, and they sought us out to assist them again with this project. They felt their current site was lackluster and stale and didn’t have that oomph impact that some of their other property sites have. Overall, it just didn’t speak to the achievements and successes of the past 30 years.
Here are a few things they didn’t like about their existing site:
Can be hard to figure out what they do at first glance
Design is outdated
Doesn’t showcase their properties
The navigation is confusing
Content is lacking
Doesn’t reflect their overall brand
The Chesnut Properties old website home page.
The Current Projects page was stagnant, with photos laid out in a grid with no information or calls to action that lead visitors into portfolio pages.
The existing About page is the most robust, but it still lacks the design and imagery to really convey the work that they do, or Lee’s vision.
How we’re working to achieve these goals on the new site:
Bringing in different types of design elements to “wow” visitors as they navigate the site
Enhancing layouts to allow each project to shine
Updating the color scheme to allow for better readability
Changing the navigation items to allow for an easier user experience
Adding CTAs to all project pages, allowing visitors to move seamlessly from one page to the next
Using updated copy to help visitors better understand what exactly it is that Chesnut does
We see an immediate improvement on the About page, and we get a peek at the new color scheme! It has a much more personal feel and it showcases Lee’s story. The black and white on blue allows for better text readability and accentuates the overall design.
The new Portfolio pages have a new color scheme, with better readability and organization. We can also see all the photos for a project in one place instead of endlessly scrolling the page. We also get clear information at the top highlighting what makes this project unique and special.
The new Projects page has a clear delineation between projects, allowing visitors to know immediately what category it falls under. Visitors can easily navigate to different projects without having to guess which project is which.
Now, for the real treat! We added a very unique horizontal scroll to the new homepage, creating a dynamic design element first thing. This allows the site to really impress visitors upon first glance, but it doesn’t take away from the content. These two elements work well together because the content is simple and to the point, yet the horizontal scroll adds something special, making it fun to take in the homepage content.
Lee and the entire team at Chesnut Properties were delighted with this site upgrade! We took their direction, turned it into a vision, and brought it to life. The simple yet updated design — along with the beautiful imagery and updated content — really made all the difference in executing this vision. It is always a pleasure to work with the Chesnut Properties team, and this project was no exception!
Check it out for yourself here!
