COGnitions

6 December
2022
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What’s in a Name? Branding Your Condominium Building | By Rachel Bakish

From permitting to design to construction and through sales, developers know that there is no end to the list of decisions that must be made when building a multi-unit luxury condo development. At Columbus & Over Group, we know how critical it is that no detail is missed along the way. One detail that is often overlooked in the early stages of development is the project’s name.

Names hold significant value in society. From early childhood, humans are conditioned to understand names as personal, familial and cultural identifiers, a label that expresses who we are and the places we belong to. Like people, buildings have individual character and identity, and a good name serves to express and emphasize these distinctions.

Choosing a Good Name For Your Real Estate Development

There are many things to consider when choosing the name of your real estate development. First, a good name must be unique. The uniqueness of your chosen name is critical to differentiate your building from neighboring developments, even those that may not be nearby. In particular, your name must be distinctive both phonetically and in terms of web presence. If the name of your new development sounds like an existing one, agents, potential buyers, and other visitors may confuse the two spaces, resulting in unnecessary inconveniences and annoyance, or worse yet, missed sales!

Furthermore, distinguishable web presence must also be considered when selecting a name. It is critical that someone interested in your building can simply google its name and all desired results are found easily, with minimal competition. Best yet, you want your potential buyers to feel pride in the name and web presence so that they pass it along to their friends and family for more views and, in turn, even better SEO.

In addition to uniqueness, a good name should connect your new development with its local history and culture. An example of this would be Victoria Residences in Beacon Hill. The name of this mixed-use development alludes to the building’s rich, Victorian architectural history while also harboring stately connotation that speaks to the established market that is Beacon Hill. Choosing a name that reflects and showcases local history linguistically links the new and the old, allowing the preservation of the past even as neighborhoods are updated. Given the richness of American history embedded throughout the city of Boston, it is especially important that new developments elevate and enhance local histories, not erase and suppress them.

In addition to capturing history, names can also be used to foreshadow futures ahead. An example of this would be The Beacon in Watertown. A 28 unit development that delivers urban-style residences in a suburban landscape, the Beacon offers the type of product that had not yet been seen in the area. The name, “The Beacon,” was chosen to symbolize the trajectory of growth for this up-and-coming sub-market.

What Kind Of Buildings Would Benefit From A Name?

While branding can enhance many developments, naming is not necessary for all project types. For example, single-family homes are rarely named. Additionally, mixed-use or multifamily residences consisting of only two or three units may forgo a name. In these cases, the cost of undergoing an extensive branding process would outweigh the potential added value of naming the property. While there are many nuances to explore, a name brings image, distinction, and facilitates recall to a development, and should be an integral part of luxury condominium sell-out projects consisting of four or more units.