Four colossal H&M signs will soon sit among NYC’s skyline icons.

In a major flex of corporate marketing power, the hip Swedish clothing retailer plans to brand the currently empty 70-foot-tall panels atop 4 Times Square, also known as the Condé Nast Building.

The illuminated signs, expected to be completed by the end of the year, will complement (not to mention advertise) a new 42,500-square foot H&M retail store at the base of the 48-story tower. H&M signed their lease with the Durst Organization last October, reportedly paying somewhere in the neighborhood of $15 million a year for the old ESPN Zone space and $5 million for street and skyline signage space.

“They certainly understood the value of skyline signage,” Tom Bow, director of leasing at Durst told the Wall Street Journal. “The views and the eyeballs on the skyline are going to be tremendous.”

The H&M logo – in the eyes of millions of beholders – will probably outshine other iconic skyline signs that had to be grandfathered in, as new lighted signs are widely banned throughout the city outside of Times Square. Inevitably, nearby residents are already starting to speak out against a trendy-yet-affordable clothing-branded skyline:

“It’s almost like a dog marking its territory,” Marisa Redanty, a community activity who lives down the block from 4 Times Square told CBS News.

She told the Huffington Post, “It’s very un-classy – it’s tacky, and it’s like, ‘Are we going to be like Tokyo?’”

We certainly understand that viewpoint, but after all, Times Square is…you know…the ultimate American celebration of consumerism? We’re happy for our friends at H&M and congratulate them on their mega-marketing move.

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