Hoylman-Sigal Says No to 4-Story Herald Square Billboard

A developer’s plan to wrap a four-story LED billboard around Herald Center is drawing fresh fire, and this week it came from Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal. He has joined Community Board 5 in urging the city to reject the special permit, citing the effect on nearby apartments, including hundreds in a residential tower owned by the developer’s own family.

In his recommendation, Hoylman-Sigal wrote that city zoning rules generally try to limit light trespass from commercial signs into homes. “Given the inherent conflicts between bright lights and people seeking a good night’s sleep, New York City Zoning regulations generally seek to limit light trespass from commercial signage into residential homes,” he wrote. “The location of the Proposed Sign, directly adjacent to a 691-unit residential building, is in direct conflict with these precedents.” He also urged the developer, JEMB Realty, to come back with a plan that addresses Herald Square as a whole rather than seeking an exception for a single building.

At the community board’s Sept. 10 meeting, Nancy Aber Goshow, chair of the Land Use, Housing and Zoning Committee, framed it as a precedent problem. “To me, this is something I call Times Square everywhere,” she said. “We need to have Times Square where it is.” She questioned the value of putting a huge ad 60 to 100 feet up, arguing most pedestrians aren’t looking that high, and warned that the city’s decades-old signage rules haven’t kept up with digital displays.

The board ran a three-dimensional analysis estimating the display could be visible from 53 buildings within five blocks and 89 within 10 blocks. Within five blocks, it counted about 1,700 residential units. Those figures measure potential visibility, not how much extra light would actually reach any apartment. The board also said JEMB hadn’t committed to brightness limits and suggested settling on illumination levels after installation. The developer’s offer to consider blackout shades for Herald Towers tenants case by case was dismissed by the board as inadequate. Herald Towers has roughly 690 rental apartments, 49 of them rent-stabilized as of 2025, according to the board.

Louis Jerome, whose family owns both Herald Center and Herald Towers, defended the plan at the September meeting. He pointed to the horizontal LED lighting installed in a 2015 renovation, which has run red, white and blue for the Fourth of July and orange and blue for the Knicks. He said the family’s financial stake in the residential building far outweighs what it expects to earn from the billboard, and that he’s open to further compromises. JEMB’s filings acknowledge the ownership link but say the sign would face Herald Square, not Herald Towers, and would not materially add to ambient light in an area already full of illuminated ads.

Jerome also argued the billboard could help a struggling stretch of West 34th Street, saying H&M, a major Herald Center tenant, is looking to leave. H&M’s plans haven’t been independently confirmed. JEMB’s application also cites retail vacancies on West 34th since the pandemic. JEMB did not respond to requests for comment on brightness limits or the shades, and Community Board 5 did not respond either.

Several Herald Towers residents spoke in favor after Jerome, with some praising management and others saying they’re used to Midtown’s glare. Not everyone is. An Oct. 9 complaint filed with the Department of Buildings under 48 West 34th Street alleges light from an existing digital sign near West 34th and Sixth Avenue is already entering an apartment and disrupting the occupant’s sleep.

The fight lands as Midtown South changes. A rezoning approved last year is expected to bring roughly 10,000 new homes to an area long dominated by offices. Herald Center sits outside the rezoned area but near its edge. Hoylman-Sigal cited that shift, noting that Times Square and the Penn Center Subdistrict got special signage rules as part of broader neighborhood plans.

The City Planning Commission hears the application Oct. 28. The community board’s and borough president’s recommendations are advisory, and the proposal has not received final approval.