Will Watchtower Sign Make Way For New Panorama Complex?
After more than forty years, the Brooklyn skyline might be changing.
With news of Columbia Heights Associates’ plans to transform the former Jehovah’s Witnesses Watchtower buildings into Panorama, a deluxe office and retail campus, The Real Deal is reporting that the illuminated red Watchtower sign may soon come down.
The Jehovah’s Witnesses, who are relocating to upstate New York, filed a permit application earlier this month to remove the sign situated atop 25-30 Columbia Heights, the organization’s former headquarters, according to The Real Deal. The application comes approximately a year after Columbia Heights Associates—a joint venture comprised of CIM Group, LIVWRK Holdings, and Kushner Companies—purchased the Brooklyn Heights property for $340 million in August 2016.
The 15-foot-tall sign was erected shortly after the Jehovah’s Witnesses purchased the building in 1969, according to the organization’s website. The building’s previous owner was pharmaceutical company Squibb & Sons, The Real Deal says. In 2009, the neon tube lights were replaced with energy efficient red LED lighting.
Columbia Heights Associates’ Panorama project will convert the buildings into a 635,000-square-foot mixed-use complex featuring 35,000 square feet of retail and cultural space.