Times Square Billboards Rake In Millions for Landlords

Having your face sprawled across 70-foot-tall billboards on buildings in Times Square might make you famous, but it's making landlords rich.

Jamestown Properties, owner of the One Times Square tower where the Waterford Crystal ball drops on New Year's Eve, rakes in more than $23 million a year just from the signage on its building, The Wall Street Journal reported. The building itself is a mostly empty office tower.

The revenue from billboards at the building has been on the rise over the last few years, according to documents obtained by the Journal. It was $17 million in 2009, and it rose to $23 million this year. Billboard revenue for the building is expected to top $24 million next year.

Asking rents for billboards in Times Square are doing pretty well overall, too. The going rate for billboard space at 4 Times Square, home of a giant H&M store, is $3.5 million a year, according to the Durst Organization, which owns the signage and retail space there.

Read the whole story on The Wall Street Journal.