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In a city whose skyline boasts some of the most famous buildings in the world, a building's name conveys more than one might expect
THE 20-STORY, 100,000-SF BUILDING WITH AN exquisite terra-cotta facade on West 30th Street has an illustrious history as a commercial property. Celebrated architect Cass Gilbert, who also designed the Woolworth, New York Life buildings and Broadway Chambers House, built the tower in 1927 tor real estate speculators.
In the following decades, the building, which is registered as a New York City historical landmark, was known simply by its business-district address-130 W. 30th St.-but it never had a name of its own.
In 2001, HJ Development Corp. purchased the property and was persuaded by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission to convert it to luxury residential units. It was then up to Anne Marie Alexander, the new owner's director of sales and marketing, to address this issue. And Alexander went about it in a very thorough and innovative way. She didn't want to emphasize the building's address because it is in the heart of a business district, not a residential neighborhood. The building is located on West 30th Street between Sixth and Seventh Streets, a stone's throw from Herald Square and Madison Square Garden and not a likely spot for luxury housing. To bring some cachet and to lure residential tenants, she decided to plumb the building's history for some guidance. Through Internet research, she discovered that Gilbert was well known for designs that married historic forms with modern technology. "I knew then that I wanted to name it The Cass Gilbert because he's a significant architect," she says. "This would be a way for us to pay homage to him in a modern way. We were creating a brand, and it was authentic. It was significant and timeless."
Anderson was able to locate Gilbert's 90-something great-grandson, Cass. A. Gilbert, a retired minister living in Maine. She received Cass' blessing to christen the building, "The Cass Gilbert," a name that she felt would evoke elegance, importance and historical significance and that was punctuated by the assets's grand logo: A pair of the building's griffins going head-to-head above the address.
Her strategy worked. Within 40 days, the 45 units, which...