CHELSEA, MA - Home sellers have posted video tours of their properties on the websites of real estate brokers, and now a local developer has posted a video on YouTube.com extolling the virtues of a new green-friendly apartment complex in Chelsea. YouTube, of course, is a website where Internet visitors post, share, and view videos, and developer John M. Corcoran & Co. of Braintree and its public relations firm, Harron & Associates of Boston, figured the site is popular with the same demographic that is likely to want to rent apartments at Corcoran's new project Parkside Commons.
"We're looking for young professionals and recent college graduates who want to live close to the city but not pay Boston rents," Corcoran associate Peter Mahoney said.
There will be 238 apartments at the complex, and rents for one- and two-bedrooms range roughly from $1,345 to $1,590, he added.
Something else could make Parkside Commons attractive to young consumers: Corcoran is seeking Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, green building certification for the complex, which was constructed with some recycled materials and with energy-saving roof-top solar panels, according to Corcoran. And it's Parkside Commons' environmentally friendly features that the video posted on YouTube focuses on.
In November, Corcoran invited a class of Chelsea sixth-grader to watch the installation of solar panels as a production company hired by Corcoran, Cici Clark Video Productions of Watertown, taped the proceedings. The video was posted on YouTube earlier this week as marketing ramps up for Parkside Commons, said Mahoney, who added that the first tenants can move in April 1.
As marketing promotions go, it's pretty soft sell with no overt sales pitches, though some footage subtly notes the complex's proximity to Boston's skyline and Logan International Airport. The video on YouTube clocks in at just under three-and-a-half minutes. "That's about as long as you can go without pushing the attention span," Mahoney said.
Source: Boston.com