Finding Home: Celebrating the Story of ‘The Pioneer’
This Thursday, the Proverb team is prepared to party. It’s the grand opening of The Pioneer, and this is one to celebrate. An unmatched apartment community grounded by a history of exploration and discovery, it’s the poster-project for the value of a powerful brand narrative. From high-level architectural planning down to the shape of the door handles, every aspect of The Pioneer is meant to tell a story. And that story is making a huge impact in a wildly competitive market.
When Proverb partnered with Post Road Residential on this project, The Pioneer was a plot of dirt in Everett, MA — unnamed and undefined. There are places like Everett all over the world; cities that are tough and beautiful and brimming with character. Rather than plaster the word “luxury” over the area, we wanted to do it justice by highlighting its intrinsic, industrial charm.
Post Road’s Andy Montelli is an expert at turning bad dirt into good dirt. “When I start a project, I don’t think about creating value. I think about making a really great place to live, where people can meet and connect with one another,” he remarked. “When we first started Post Road, our youngest daughter was moving to Vermont for college. I noticed that all of the restaurants in the area featured detailed, farm-to-table style stories about the origins of their cheeses on their menus. That’s when it clicked for me. Storytelling is what makes a product special, and we need to tell the stories of our properties.”
“Storytelling is what makes a product special, and we need to tell the stories of our properties.” — Andy Montelli, Post Road Residential
In order to tell the story of The Pioneer, we had to do some exploration of our own. We sifted through through piles of research — maps, land-use documents, historic accounts, neighborhood guides — we read anything we could get our hands on. We saw a bright red flare through the clouds of information when we found a detailed history of the Sprague Family in a genealogy database. In the early 1600s, a settler named Ralph Sprague led his brothers into the “uncouth wilderness” north of the Mystic River. The area would eventually become Everett, a city defined by a drive to discover.
“I remember the meeting when Shoki said that line, ‘You Can’t Discover What You Don’t Explore.’ I think about those words all the time — that is our essence. That is our story. Everything we’ve done since that meeting carries the meaning of those words,” explained Andy. “There’s a moment in the process where you feel the personality of a place come alive, and that’s where it gets exciting.”
The brain-child of five award-winning design and development firms, The Pioneer was designed to be a journey. When you step into the lobby, you get a glimpse of the inner rooms through the slats of the staircase and the gleam of the striking light sculpture. As you navigate further into the building, hidden spaces and secret touches begin to reveal themselves: a secluded Peloton ® spin studio, a movie theater, flooring patterned with a map of Everett, and a Great Room with plenty of seating, a billiards table, a roaring fireplace, and beer on tap. All luxurious, expertly curated, and exquisite. All perfectly on strategy.
“I remember the meeting when Shoki said that line, ‘You Can’t Discover What You Don’t Explore.’ I think about those words all the time — that is our essence. That is our story. Everything we’ve done since that meeting carries the meaning of those words.” — Andy Montelli
Every inch of The Pioneer speaks to this story of discovery, from the reclaimed timber walls and the flag that waves over the building to the handmade canoe that hangs from the ceiling of the Great Room. (Andy commissioned Rollin Thurlow, world-renowned canoe craftsman, to build the gorgeous, cherry-red boat. Then, much to Thurlow’s horror, he asked him to drill holes in the bottom of his masterpiece and string it from the rafters.)
We designed signature telescope-shaped handles for the doors, and collaborated with Woolrich to make The Explorer’s Knit, a snuggly wool blanket that features a custom Pioneer Plaid pattern. The shelves in the game room are lined with explorer’s guides and vintage editions of National Geographic. Colorful globes adorn common spaces. Tables are decorated with driftwood. Even the glassware is etched with the coordinates of the property.
In an industry where everyone is trying to create exceptional value and mitigate risk, it can seem radical to go the extra mile — especially early on. But when a brand is built on a compelling story, and that story is strategically woven into the very fabric of a place, something amazing happens. Sure, The Pioneer is stunning, but it’s also commanding higher rents and selling prospective tenants on the property before they even see the space. In a competitive market, the ability to sign leases with fewer tours and fewer touches is an incredible advantage.
“This is the fourth project we have worked on with Proverb, and each time they find a way to top the project before,” Andy commented. “There is something comfortable about working with Proverb, because they know how we think at Post Road, and they know what is important to us and to our customers. We think their work is more exciting than ever.”
When our work is done well, it almost feels obvious. It seeps into the very structure of a building and tells a story so powerful it seems like you knew it already. And to do great work, we have to be brave. We have to partner early and collaborate before our ideas are set in stone. We have to see the potential in challenged locations. We have to have the courage to differentiate ourselves, to invest in both the big ideas and the little details, and to make choices that support a strategic narrative. After all, we all speak in stories. This one feels like finding home.
