World's longest billboard debuts at E Walk site.

Something big - very big - has arrived on the 42nd Street in Times square. Starting this month, millions of visitors and native New Yorkers will get an eye-opening sneak preview of this Summer's monster release the much-awaited May release of Godzilla as the longest billboard in the world roars to life in front of the future site of E Walk, the innovative retail/entertainment/hotel complex being developed and built by Tishman Realty & Construction Co., Inc.

Stretching across the imagination - and along half a city block on the northern side of 42nd Street from 8th Avenue going east the 421-foot eight-inch sign heralds Sony Pictures' massive promotional campaign for the new film.

But the epic billboard is also a sign of big things to come, as the E Walk project prepares for its role as the western anchor of "the New 42nd Street."

When it debuts in Spring, 1999, E Walk will boast 200,000 square feet of entertainment and retail space housing major tenants, led by Loews Theatres with a 13-screen, all stadium-seating movie complex; The Museum Company; and Broadway City, a virtual reality entertainment arcade. The completed project will also feature a soaring 45-story, 650,000-square foot hotel with 900 rooms, and 10 to 12 permanent eye-catching Super Signs that will create a dazzling array of colors, lights, and action.

The mammoth billboard - which delivers the message promising that "He is longer than this sign" against a slimy, green backdrop - will dominate views along 42nd Street. Sony Pictures has rented the nearly 10,000 square-foot advertising spot from TDI, an advertising firm that has a master lease with Tishman to rent ad space during construction, and 20,000 square feet of permanent multimedia signage on E Walk's roof and facade once the property is opened. The billboard -421 feet 8 inches long by 23 feet high - sits 15 feet off the ground on a "super bridge" under which pedestrians can traverse 42nd Street.

Built by Atlantic-Heydt, the bridge's main ingredients include 10,000 square feet of plywood fascia, 64 steel truss columns, dozens of auto-timed tower lights, and a powerful mass of concrete and cable mooring it to the ground. Crews stretched a huge blanket of weather-resistant vinyl, on which the ad is printed, over the plywood face.

The sounds in the background over the next few months won't be Godzilla growling, however, but rather the churning and rumbling of equipment from Tishman subcontractors as they keep the ground-breaking E Walk complex on schedule to open next Spring.

The $300-million project incorporates the designs of D'Agostino Izzo Quirk Architects and Gensler New York, for the entertainment/retail complex, and the striking hotel design by Arquitectonica, that's already creating a buzz in New York and beyond.

E Walk's cutting edge mix of architectural vigor, bright lights and top-flight tenants not only promises great things for 42nd Street, but also symbolizes the celebration of Tishman's 100th anniversary. Tishman is one of the world's largest builders and developers, completing more than 300 million square feet of space in its history.