GM Building naming rights up for grabs

Could Harry Macklowe‘s General Motors Building become the Apple Building? The naming rights contract for the tower expires in 2010, and Macklowe is looking to earn some extra cash as he tries to sell the building to pay off his overdue short-term debt. The sponsor won’t even have to be a tenant in the building. One possibility mentioned in the tower’s sales book is Apple, which has its underground store there, topped by a glass cube. “It is easy to imagine Apple, for example, leveraging their flagship store in the plaza by re-naming this premier iconic property to reflect their increasingly successful brand,” the book says. zoning restrictions that prevent a company from plastering its name across the GM’s facade and agreements with GM tenants that would prevent competitors from getting in on the action.