A year after the Tarragon South Development Corp. opened its kitschy condo complex The Exchange Lofts in downtown Fort Lauderdale the community is still attracting tenants with its unique history.

The company used a play on old-time telephone terminology to name the building, which used to serve as a switching station for the telephone company in the 1930s. The building on Northeast Third Avenue is now celebrating a one year anniversary.

The Exchange Lofts is located within the Flagler Village Civic Association, and board member Michael Ferber remembers when Tarragon representatives, lawyers and architects, first turned up at association meetings seeking approval for the old building. Many, like Ferber, were excited about the project.

Matthew Ryan, 41, is an interior designer who’s lived in The Exchange with his partner since last July.

“It was the loft idea that brought us here from Washington, D.C.,” he said. “An openness, plus all that exposed pipe and exposed brick are attractive.”

“When you look at the downtown core between the New River and Broward Boulevard,” Ferber said, “you see success.”