NEW YORK | 701 7th Ave (20 Times Square Edition) | 517 FT | 39 FLOORS

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by simms3_redux

Wow this looks really good. Are they going for a record breaking digital ad space?

It's the biggest digital super sign anywhere, so I suppose, yes.

[TechTalkGuy]

This is 20 Times Sq
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[NYguy]

Competition...



http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/17/bu...ine-.html?_r=0

Times Square’s Biggest and Most Expensive Digital Billboard Is Set to Shine

By EMILY STEEL
NOV. 16, 2014

In an era when digital screens large and small proliferate but attention is increasingly scarce, some marketers are making a huge bet that one of the biggest displays in the world will captivate audiences.

Their gamble: the largest and most expensive digital billboard in Times Square, which will light up on Tuesday night.

The new screen stands eight stories tall and is nearly as long as a football field, spanning the entire block from 45th Street to 46th Street on Broadway — the center of the Times Square “bow tie.” Nearly 24 million LED pixels, each containing tiny red, blue and green lights, make up the display, giving it higher resolution than even the best of today’s top-of-the-line television sets.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-1...billboard.html

Google Takes Times Square Crown With Half-Acre Billboard


By David M. Levitt
Nov 17, 2014

Times Square signage has become an arms race between real estate developers, with ever-bigger, ever-brighter displays. Tomorrow, Vornado Realty Trust (VNO) will fire the latest shot when it switches on a 330-foot (100-meter) digital billboard wrapped around the front of the Marriott Marquis Hotel on Broadway between 45th and 46th streets. The eight-story tall sign, which will be leased by Google Inc. (GOOGL) from Nov. 24 into January, is more than half an acre in area.

.....The 26,300-square-foot (2,440-square-meter) sign supplants the multipanel, 15,000-square-foot display on American Eagle Outfitters’ Times Square store as the biggest, according to Tim Tompkins, president of the Times Square Alliance. The American Eagle sign, developed by SL Green Realty Corp. (SLG), New York’s biggest owner of office buildings, is just north of the Marriott Marquis, and dominates Duffy Square, where the TKTS booth that sells discount Broadway show tickets sits.

.....Edition Hotel

The developers of the Marriott Edition Hotel at 701 Seventh Ave., two blocks north and on the other side of the square from the Vornado sign, plan an 18,000 to 20,000-square-foot sign that will wrap around the corner of the 39-story tower. The project is a joint venture of a group that includes developer Steven Witkoff, Winthrop Realty Trust, and Miami investor Howard Lorber, with lending from Barry Sternlicht’s Starwood Property Trust and iStar Financial Inc. (STAR)

The sign it is planning “will be a game-changer,” Witkoff said in an interview. Their sign will enable them to broadcast a National Football League game or a concert, with bands of advertising running across the screen, he said.

Regarding Vornado’s sign, he said, “what’s good for them is good for us.”


.....Demand for the most sophisticated signage may take Times Square beyond its traditional boundaries. Developer Sharif El-Gamal is “exploring options to extend the special signage zoning” to the site of the former Parsons art and design school at 560 Seventh Ave., at West 40th Street. He is planning to tear down the building and construct a Dream Hotel, a boutique luxury brand.

The border of the zone that requires Times Square-style signage stops just north of the property.

“It’s a very exciting time to be a developer and a landlord in the center of the universe,” El-Gamal said in a phone interview. “Tourists are piling in left and right. It’s so logical to say why don’t we try to expand Seventh Avenue all the way down to 34th Street, and create that as another pocket of visibility that will remove the bottleneck that exists in Times Square?”

http://www.adweek.com/news/advertisi...tonight-161480

This Insanely Large Billboard Will Light Up an Entire Block of Times Square Starting Tuesday
Google is first to rent the 'jaw-dropping' space

By Lara Georgieff

There's no denying the billboard will be overwhelmingly large—even for Times Square—and it's already inducing awe in passersby who have seen it. Emily Steel of the Times wrote that as "test images of skiers and fashion models illuminate[d] the new display, tourists turned their heads to look at the sign, their jaws actually dropping."

The megascreen seems designed to astonish. The billboard will span an entire block—from 45th Street to 46th Street on Broadway. It has a higher resolution than the best television sets on the market. Plus, it's eight stories tall. As Harry Coghlan, president of Clear Channel Outdoor New York, succinctly told the newspaper: "Size matters in Times Square. Sometimes it just comes down to wanting to stand out, and it comes down to ego."

[aquablue]

Yeah, might as well expand it all the way down to Penn Station. Honestly, that area could do with some signs, it's drab. I think having a long avenue of signs would be great, like something out of Asia. I would be all for illuminating the entire 7th avenue between Times Square and Penn Station. They don't all have to be LED screens. Just lights and neon too.

[JR Ewing]

Originally Posted by aquablue

Yeah, might as well expand it all the way down to Penn Station. Honestly, that area could do with some signs, it's drab. I think having a long avenue of signs would be great, like something out of Asia. I would be all for illuminating the entire 7th avenue between Times Square and Penn Station. They don't all have to be LED screens. Just lights and neon too.

I disagree. 7th Ave and B'Way (south of B'Way) have lots of beautiful old towers, which I don't want to see covered in signs.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by aquablue

Yeah, might as well expand it all the way down to Penn Station. Honestly, that area could do with some signs, it's drab.

That's working out to be the case more and more, but I think the preferred option would be Broadway instead of 7th Avenue. With Herald Square becoming more like Times Sq, especially with current changes underway, it would only be natural. But I've been noticing the gradual changes for a while.

[chris08876]

Yea Herald Square and the area near MSG is kinda a mini times square. Especially with the bright billboards. Would be a good edition to the area when we think about it. That billboard is sweet though. Haven't seen in in person yet, but based on the image, dam!

[Lecom]

• Video Link

[chris08876]

Lots of construction activity going on in the square today. I think its more on the street level as they are working on finishing the plaza. Hopefully they finish all of the street work before this project kicks into high gear. Traffic tends to be bad given the location, but lately it's gotten very bad which has a spillover effect onto the nearby avenues due to cars avoiding this usual route.

[Onn]

Think that billboard is a little bit too big. Like maybe that's all people will now remember after visiting the Square. And one major billboard is not Time Square.

[Busy Bee]

I'll take a simple still or flashing brand sign any day over a giant TV.

[chris08876]

• Video Link

[Submariner]

God almighty, that Marriott is horrendously ugly.

[Busy Bee]

This sort of reminds me of when people were mesmerized by a Windows screensaver.

[photoLith]

That sign is ridiculous, its too big. I like a million smaller signs and neon better, oh well.

[Onn]

Originally Posted by Busy Bee

I'll take a simple still or flashing brand sign any day over a giant TV.

That's what I mean, who approved that?

[chris08876]

Its Times Square lol. Flashy, bright, obnoxious, and noisy are what its about. Something like this only adds to the grandeur of the area. It does look awesome from the videos. I have yet to see it in person (only via Earthcam and DOT cameras), but its making me want to go see it in person. Imagine watching Inception on that or Interstellar?

Or even Saving Private Ryan...

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by Onn

Think that billboard is a little bit too big. Like maybe that's all people will now remember after visiting the Square. And one major billboard is not Time Square.

People are hardly going to remember Times Square for one billboard, regardless of how big it is. And it isn't like the billboards in TS have been modest all these years. That one is just bigger than the rest.

Originally Posted by chris08876

Its Times Square lol. Flashy, bright, obnoxious, and noisy are what its about.

Exactly. And that's why most of the people go there. They want to see the big, flashy signs, the bigger the better.

Originally Posted by chris08876

• Video Link

Nice.

[StoOgE]

How does this jive with that new plan for Times Square?

I thought someone was going to make it slightly less awful but still really bright.

[chris08876]

Originally Posted by StoOgE

How does this jive with that new plan for Times Square?

I thought someone was going to make it slightly less awful but still really bright.

Are you referring to the plaza or the improvements to the pavement/street? This is separate from that project. The Times Square plaza improvements should finish up in early 2015. Most of the scaffolding and streetwork in the area is because of that. The southern portion is essentially finished, and they are working on the northern section.