One of Baltimore's tallest buildings just became Baltimore's tallest flagpole.

Six Saint Paul Center, the 29-story office tower that recently was taken over by Chemical Banking Corp. of New York, now sports one of the largest flags in the city -- and certainly the highest. It flies from a 150-foot flagpole atop the building's slender "steeple."

Steve Gassaway of the Baltimore office of C. B. Commercial the new leasing and management agent for the building, said the 20-by-30-foot flag was installed because the new owners couldn't understand why the flagpole was never used.

"Everybody has always said, 'What do you do with the top of that building?' " Mr. Gassaway said. "We thought: Let it do what it was meant to do. The flagpole was already there, but it was never used."

C. B. Commercial also has added more lights at the top of the building to illuminate the flag and steeple at night. So far the firm has had a positive reaction to the change, Mr. Gassaway said. "It's certainly very visible on the skyline."

Completed five years ago and previously owned by S/A Associates of Garden City, N.Y., the 309,000-square-foot building is 85 percent vacant and accounts for more than one-quarter of the vacant Class A office space downtown.

Mr. Gassaway said C. B. Commercial will launch a new marketing effort next month and is already beginning to show space to prospective tenants. "We're excited to be involved with the building," he said. "We have a strong interest level."