The Real Deal New York

From the May issue: While by no means the first starchitect-driven residential property in New York City, when it opened, Downtown by Philippe Starck at 15 Broad Street was among the first condominiums to flash a designer brand so flagrantly. And effectively. The 42-story luxury conversion sold $210 million in condo apartments in just four weeks in the summer of 2004 and helped lift Manhattan’s undervalued Financial District to upscale destination status. Now that the condo market has cooled, developer Joseph Moinian is turning the Starck star power onto a rental building, betting that the newly honed “YOO by Starck” logo and a marketing campaign featuring seductive images of the ebullient French designer will fill 507 way-above-market rental apartments in the Financial District.