Lefrak light show gives New Yorkers an eyeful.

Real-estate owner/developer, the Lefrak Organization, has completed construction and installation of an elaborate 60-foot high lightbox atop of its 32-story Newport Office Center VII, also known as the UBS Building, at 480 Washington Boulevard in Jersey City.

The technologically sophisticated lighting system, which is visible from most of Manhattan's West Side but particularly eye-catching to onlookers south of Canal Street, is now operating daily from sunset to midnight.

The idea for the daily "lightshow" was conceived by LeFrak CEO Richard Lefrak and choreographed by lighting programmer Dawn Chiang.

A typical evening's program consists of a "White Show" (a series of moving scenes using white light only) interrupted by 30-minute seasonal displays that utilize seasonally appropriate colors.

"The Jersey City waterfront district has blossomed in recent years thanks to Newport and other major high-rise development," stated Mr. LeFrak. "We felt the time was right to add a dynamic element that would help create a signature identity for this important new city skyline."

Originally conceived for theatrical productions, the highly innovative lighting system couples a 3M light pipe containing Optical Lighting film to a 575-watt Martin Architectural 600 color-changing light fixture for extraordinarily intense linear sources of color and light. The system is currently in use at only one other skyscraper in the US--the Target Corporate Tower in Minneapolis.

According to Mr. Lefrak, the special quality of the 3M light tube lies in its ability to distribute light evenly over the entire height of the 6-story tall tubes.

The evenness of the tubes' intensity and the ability of the control software to direct each of the Light Box's 72 fixtures creates endless possibilities of choreographed scenes.

While the wrap-around lightbox was designed to blend with the building's facade during the day, when night falls, the fixtures fade up against the dusk skyline and the large glass wall softens.

The energy efficient lightbox show was implemented by Lefrak's Anthony Scavo and Martin Architectural's Jamey Brock from designs by an engineering team comprised of Ed Galto and Brian Pasechnik of OMDEX Engineering, Steve Pojar of 3M and Stephen Lolm of the ILA The Design Team.

It was installed by Bill Geraghty of Geraghty Electric and Bruno Silva of Martin Architectural.