Westgate shopping center sign, an Albany icon, disappearing for a while

Enlarge Photo

Donna Abbott-Vlahos\Albany Business Review

The tall, neon sign at Westgate shopping center on Central Avenue in Albany, New York, will be taken down and refurbished -- 54 years after it was first installed.

Michael DeMasi

Reporter- Albany Business Review

Email  |  Google+  |  Twitter  |  LinkedIn

The tall neon sign that for 54 years has advertised the Westgate shopping center on Central Avenue is coming down, but the Albany, New York, icon will be back.

The owner of the shopping plaza is having the sign refurbished, including replacing the neon lights with energy-saving LEDs.

The sign is structurally sound, but needs to be updated, in part because replacing the neon has become difficult, said Ann Moreno, director of real estate at Horizons Management Associates LLC in Dedham, Massachusetts.

The steel will be reinforced and the catwalk replaced.

"We're trying to be proactive," Moreno said.

The refurbished sign will have a similar look. Price Chopper anchors the plaza at 911 Central Ave., near Everett Road.

Saxton Sign Corp. in Castleton will start removing the sign Nov. 15. It's expected to be reinstalled by the end of December.

The original sign was first manufactured and installed in 1960 by Judge Neon Sign Co. (now called Saxton). A story published at the time in an industry trade magazine said the sign was 90 feet high, but Moreno said her records indicate the height is 65 feet.

The sign initially read: Welcome to Westgate Shopping Center. Today, it just says Westgate.

Here are some other details about the sign, based on the story in Signs of the Times:

"The single copy panel, a 30 foot by 20 foot oval, is faced with porcelain with white porcelain channel letters. The double-faced sections are turquoise, rimmed with yellow porcelain. The huge 'W' is 8 feet tall, outlined with four rows of clear red tubing. Three rows of red illuminate the remaining 'Westgate' letters. The remaining copy is double tubed in turquoise. Some 1,500 yellow incandescent lamps border the oval and, activated by two flashers, create a rotating light effect."

DeMasi covers real estate, construction, retail and hospitality.