outdoor movies

We wrote about this idea back in the summer of 2007 when we experimented with it at Park Station Apartments in Saint Louis, MO. It was a big hit not only our residents but with the community at large. Park Station is set in the historic DeBaliviere Neighborhood near the popular Central West End. It is surrounded by condominiums and 100+ year old mansions. The one amenity the neighborhood lacks is a reason to get together. There is no cool factor.

Create the Experience And They Will Come

That was and still is the reason we host the outdoor movie series in the summer time. We team up with the neighborhood home owners association, DeBaliviere Place Association along with Frontyard Features to organize and execute the event. It’s set one of our parking lots near a large grassy knoll with provides for comfortable seating. Our team also provides chairs, drinks, popcorn, pizza and hot dogs to movie goers. The movies are new release features which we purchase license for via Swank [make sure you get the license as the fine is very hefty if you don’t].

Invite The Neighborhood

In the spirit of marketing apartments – Cinema on the Lawn was a project targeted at the neighborhood at large. The implied effect that we were after was to get the neighborhood together – stimulated by a cool experience that they would have reason to talk about. It worked as evidenced by the growing number of attendees. The last movie we presented was attended by over 100 people more than half of which did not live in our apartments. While I can not prove out a number as it relates to leases, I can say with confidence that we enhance the experience of living in the DeBaliviere Neighborhood and as such we were raved about.

Build Your Own

I caught this on my train ride back from Chicago on Sunday – it’s not all that hard to build your own outdoor theater.

What kind of things are you doing this summer to draw in the community at large?

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