Brooklyn’s iconic Watchtower sign is gone

Say goodbye to a Brooklyn icon: The New York Post reports that the Watchtower sign, which sat atop the Jehovah’s Witnesses massive Brooklyn Heights HQ for decades, was taken down on Wednesday. Workers removed the letters spelling out “Watchtower”—each of which is 15 feet high—on Wednesday, leaving an empty spot in their place.

The Witnesses installed the enormous red sign atop the building at 30 Columbia Heights more than 40 years ago, though according to the group, a sign of some sort had sat atop the building for more than 70 years.

The Witnesses sold the building in 2016 to Columbia Heights Associates, a consortium of developers that includes LIVWRK, CIM Group, and Kushner Companies. They plan to turn the building into an enormous, multi-building office and retail complex called Panorama, and Asher Abehsera of Columbia Heights Associates said that the group plans to “bring a new beacon to the Brooklyn skyline.”

The bright red sign, meanwhile, will follow the Witnesses to its new headquarters in Warwick, New York, according to the Post.

The Post also has video of the removal, which you can see below:

• Iconic Brooklyn sign taken down after 70 years [NYP]
• Brooklyn’s Jehovah’s Witnesses Watchtower complex gets renderings for its future as Panorama [Curbed]
• Jehovah's Witnesses' Watchtower building in Brooklyn sells for $340M [Curbed]