L.H. Charney Associates is a privately held real estate development company headquartered in New York City. Founded by the late Leon H. Charney in 1981, the company is the current owner of the Bricken Casino Building located at 1410 Broadway. Designed by the famed architect Ely Jacques Kahn, the 1930s building is a 34-story, commercial office building situated on the southeast corner of Broadway and West 39th Street. Similar to other neighboring buildings in the Garment District, the client sought a major capital improvement program to help modernize the space. As part of a larger building upgrade, the property owner enlisted TPG with the gut renovation of the building’s façade, lobby entrance, elevators, bathrooms, and common areas.
TPG’s design team helped to transform the building’s dated façade and entryway from an old-fashioned bronze aesthetic to a more contemporary, glass vestibule. A new canopy was added to the building’s exterior, with a matte ceiling light to help draw attention inside the building. TPG’s Branding team added new exterior signage on the canopy identifying the building number with a clean and timeless font. For the interiors, the client hired an international artist to paint large brightly colored graphics, allowing passersby to view the striking visuals from the street. This building lobby accommodates guided tours of the Fashion District, so these bold paintings help to create a first and lasting impression for guests.
Although the client wanted to modernize the look and feel of the building and lobby, they also wanted to preserve the building and the surrounding Fashion District’s history. TPG’s Branding team contrasted this bold artwork by incorporating a historical photographic montage that serves as an ode to the historic textile community. The team enhanced their existing photography chronicle of the Fashion Industry in New York, and designed a more modern display with interchangeable fabric prints with accompanying museum-like placards describing the photographs.