One crucial aspect of effective real estate publicity is the ability to recognize an opportune moment and use that to craft a strategy that captures broader public and media attention. Related Midwest’s groundbreaking announcement for 400 Lake Shore was one such occurrence. The development was sure to generate positive buzz, as it includes a pair of striking residential towers at the intersection of Lake Michigan and the Chicago River. But Taylor Johnson knew that the site’s history could be leveraged in order to amplify our reach.

Most notably, 400 Lake Shore occupies the site of the former Chicago Spire, a project abandoned by a previous developer and that left the city with a notorious hole in the ground. (Taylor Johnson was intimately familiar with that project, having done PR for it before construction stopped during the Great Recession.) Even further in the past, the location hosted the city’s first non-native settler, Jean-Baptiste Pointe DuSable. TJ wove both of these narratives into our media outreach, maximizing interest and engagement.

TJ advised on the run-of-show for the groundbreaking ceremony, selecting priority media for early access and deciding on the optimal reporter-spokesperson interview matches. We also drafted remarks for the program itself, crafting a message that tied together the pioneering spirit of the site’s past with our client’s vision for its future as a vibrant mixed-income community with nearly 4.5 acres of publicly accessible space.

On the day of the groundbreaking ceremony, which featured eight speakers and over 200 attendees, TJ team members were on-site to liaise with media, introducing them to spokespersons and touring them around the site. Our comprehensive and multifaceted efforts paid off, as over 30 TV, radio, online and print outlets covered the event. NBC Chicago broadcasted live from the site, with additional coverage by ABC Chicago, WGN TV, WTTW, FOX 32 Chicago, WBBM Newsradio, Chicago Sun-Times, Crain’s Chicago Business, Axios Chicago, Chicago Star, Yahoo! News, Multi-Housing News, Bisnow Chicago, Yield PRO, REjournals, Urbanize Chicago, Connect CRE Chicago & Midwest, Chicago Construction News, REBusinessOnline, Building Up Chicago, YIMBY Chicago and Capitol Fax.