Prudential Tower will light up for the holidays
November 30, 2009 09:05 AM
GLOBE STAFF
The Shops at Prudential Center is set to launch tomorrow what it calls "31 Nights of Light" to celebrate the holidays - a skyline illumination near the top of the Prudential Tower that it hopes will become a Boston holiday tradition.
Boston Properties, the real estate investment company that owns the Shops at Prudential Center and the Prudential Tower, has just completed the permanent installation of light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, that have the capacity to create a glow near the top of one of the city's most prominent buildings, said Andrea Simpson, the director of marketing for the Shops at Prudential Center.
"Utilizing a new set of LED lights on the 51st floor of Prudential Tower, the Shops at Prudential Center will partner with 28 Boston-area organizations to the light the top of the tower a different color every night of the month," the shops said in a press release.
Lighting partners will participate in "flip the switch" events throughout the month, and partners include the Boston Ballet, the Boston Pops, and United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley, the shops said.
In the past, Boston Properties has sometimes let charitable organizations such as the Lung Cancer Alliance illuminate the top of Prudential Tower to highlight fund-raising drives and other activities, Simpson said. Such efforts generally have resulted in considerable expense to the charity, which has to rent lights and have them temporarily installed, Simpson said.
By permanently installing LEDs, Boston Properties can now offer local groups this opportunity at much less cost to the group, Simpson said, and there's another bonus: LEDs are far more energy efficient than the lights used in the past.
Once the holidays are over, various local groups may get to light up the tower 10 or 12 times a year.
"We want to keep this special," Simpson said.
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