Brooklyn Heights's iconic Watchtower sign may be coming down

Say goodbye to one of Brooklyn’s most iconic signs: The Real Deal reports that the “Watchtower” sign that sits atop the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ former headquarters may soon be gone. The Witnesses filed permits to take down the sign with the Department of Buildings last month, which were approved earlier this month.

It was just about a year ago that developer Columbia Heights Associates (a collaboration between Kushner Companies, CIM Group, and LIVWRK) purchased the Watchtower building, located at 25-30 Columbia Heights in Brooklyn Heights. The sale closed for $340 million, and is one of many real estate deals that the Jehovah’s Witnesses have been making in Brooklyn as the organization preps for a move to upstate New York.

The developers, meanwhile, have big plans for the site: it’ll eventually be home to a huge mixed-use development called Panorama, with 635,000 square feet of office space, and an additional 35,000 square feet of retail and public-facing outdoor space. The fate of the sign, however, is yet to be determined. (Columbia Heights Associates declined to comment.)

The Watchtower sign will join the ranks of other iconic New York City signage—including the Kentile Floors sign in Brooklyn—that’s been removed as redevelopment takes hold in once-commercial pockets of the city.

• End is nigh for Watchtower sign: Iconic placard to come down after $340M sale [TRD]
• 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]