Without revealing the name, what is the reason for the change? What are the thoughts of the shareholders?

The issue seems to be "out with the old, in with the new" to set a different direction for the coop than has previously been chartered. It would seem silly, but many have gotten on the band wagon.

Our coop has no name other than its street address. We have at least one shareholder who wants us to call ourselves "The Bromingfield" or some such, but whenever this issue is raised at our annual meeting, it is invariably met with rolling eyes and are-you-kidding looks from the other shareholders.

That said, it might not be unreasonable to consider a name change if (a) you've just done a major overhaul of the building and want a snazzy new name to attract buyers, or (b) your building is named something really awful like "Hitler House."

I haven't, but many aspects of Coops are governed by the NYS Business Corporation Law. Regular business corporations change their name (e.g. Apple Computers is now Apple Inc.) so I can't imagine it's that hard for a coop to do. I would think the Certificate of Incorporation would have to be changed.

Corporation names are registered with the State and you will be engaging your counsel if this is being changed. However, unless a name in a municipality may be extremely well known, you may not need to request a formal name change.

Although the NYT article cited below refers to commercial buildings, I can see how this may be similar to residential buildings and why certain individuals may wish to change the name of the building where you live.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/05/business/05name.html?fta=y


Finally, I said a while ago, that a shareholder who puts $200,000t to change the doors of the co-op not expected to be paid back, perhaps should have his/her name be part of the building. (Just a joke!!!)

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