Elevate is a distinctive 22-story tower in Cambridge, Massachusetts, built in 2006, and an adjacent six-story historic hot-dog factory that had been converted into 103 lofts. You read that right – hot dogs. The community sits along the Charles River, overlooking Boston, adjacent to a new mixed-use development focused on life-sciences, within easy walking distance of Cambridge’s life-sciences core and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and across the river from Massachusetts General Hospital. Initially a luxury community, Elevate had been taken over by undergraduate students prior to its acquisition by our client, becoming essentially a high-rise dorm. The high-rise also wasn’t taking full advantage of its most obvious amenity – its quintessential views of the Boston skyline.

Red Propeller sought to shift to a professional audience (largely R&D and healthcare) and developed a repositioning strategy that combined Boston tradition with Cambridge innovation. This target audience and repositioning strategy drove recommendations for overhauling units and amenities, including replacing an unused indoor pool with a large fitness center, converting a top-floor unit to an indoor-outdoor amenity space that takes advantage of the building’s stunning views, adding coworking and social spaces, and moving the leasing office away from a prime corner to allow for an elevated bodega with grab-and-go offerings (replacing an old convenience store in a lesser location). The strategy invested in the quality and styling of homes, paying extra attention to units with the best views. Red Propeller also leaned into the industrial vibe of the adjacent former factory, transforming this from a “value” living option into a desirable alternative that still provides access to high-rise amenities.

Finally, Red Propeller trained the leasing team in how to sell the story of the repositioned community, including getting to know prospects and tailoring tours to match needs and desires beyond just a unit size and price range.