Everybody knows it as the Porsche Building.
Except, of course, for those who know it as 100 West Liberty.
Chris Nelson wants all of them to know the 12-story building next to the Nevada Museum of Art in downtown Reno as "Museum Tower," but he's willing to be patient as he gets the new identity embedded into the Reno consciousness.
The building's common moniker comes from the long-past days when the American headquarters office of Porsche, the German automaker, was the building's dominant tenant.
Porsche left for Atlanta eight years ago.
But when Nelson, the managing principal of Capstone Partners LLC of Portland, Ore., came to town to decide whether he and his joint venture partner, NBS Real Estate Capital, should buy the building, he found it was known by a number of names.
"The building seemed to have an identity crisis," he said a few days ago.
"So we decided to start over."
The new name,Museum Tower, is a natural.
The office building at Sierra and Liberty sits next door to the new Nevada Museum of Art.
Nelson and the executives of NBS Real Estate Capital plan to take advantage of the location through extensive hangings of art in the building's remodeled lobby, a sophisticated museum feel to a small cafe that plans to move in, and possible use of public art such as a mural on the west wall that faces the museum of art.
But the biggest part of the name-change involves a lot of little things done one day after another.
The parking tickets that motorists receive when they use the building's garage carry the new logo and new name.A new Web site has been developed for the building.
Communications with tenants arrive on newly designed letterhead.
New marketing materials have been developed.
"There just isn't a silver bullet to do it," Nelson said.
The potential payoff? With combination of renovation and freshened marketing, the building's owners believe they can boost the value of Museum Tower.
