Monday, July 22, 2013

Like a Good Neighbor...hood name

What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;
Maybe that's true for roses, but it's not true for real estate. In real estate, names matter. A University of Georgia study says home buyers will pay more when a development has the word "country" in the name. A good neighborhood name can command a higher price than a good neighborhood school can.

So what about no name at all? For the last few years, I've been calling all that vacant land at Bush Turnpike and US 75, well, "all that vacant land at Bush Turnpike and US 75." After the jump, the curious case of the lack of a name for this development.



Brick Row. Eastside. Galatyn Park. Everyone knows those names. Watters Creek in Allen, West Village in Dallas, Legacy Town Center in Plano. Everyone knows those names, too. The City of Richardson even name dropped those developments in its December, 2010, "Week in Review" article bragging about the coming development on all that vacant land at Bush Turnpike and US 75. Now, here we are over two years later, with construction well underway, and we're still calling it, well, the development at Bush Turnpike and US 75.

What gives? OK, so maybe "Insurance Intersection" is a bad choice of name. "State Farmageddon" is even worse. My bad. I'm too literal. I'm too honest. My family always told me that if I worked in marketing and they depended on me to put food on the table, they would starve. But even I know the importance of a prestigious name for a new real estate development. So, what am I to make of the fact that there's no name at all for the development at Bush Turnpike and US 75? Could it be that someone (the city? the developer? DART? State Farm? all of the above?) have some thoughts about buying or selling naming rights to the neighborhood and DART station? What else could be making them overlook such a fundamental aspect of real estate marketing? What am I missing?

3 comments:

Mark Steger said...

A reader suggests that Richardson is just poor about understanding the importance of names. The reader reminds me of another poorly named major development in Richardson. I don't know how many times I've talked about it to people and always say something like, "you know, all that construction at the old Collins Radio site." I don't think I'll ever call it "Digital Realty Trust Datacenter Park - Dallas." Not and expect anyone to know where I'm talking about anyway. The City of Richardson is doing enough to subsidize this development, you'd think someone at city hall would have insisted on a name that at least got the location right.

Mark Steger said...

A reader suggests names for that new development anchored by State Farm: "Premium Pastures? Actuarial Acres?"

Mark Steger said...

How about Casualty Corner? Total Loss Station? Rising Rates Estates?