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Blade Runner Obsessed Developer Plans Giant Moving Billboards ~ DTLA

11:48 AM PST on January 28, 2009

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According to developer Sonny Astanti's website, what downtown needs is a more futuristic look:

That is the world of “Blade Runner,” Ridley Scott’s 1982 film set in a futuristic dystopia. It is also an obsession of a real estate developer, Sonny Astani, who hopes to evoke those atmospherics by affixing rows of light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, to the facades of his two newest condominium towers in downtown Los Angeles.

“That movie really hit a chord with me,” Mr. Astani, 55, said with a broad smile. “It was beautiful.”

On a recent afternoon in his Beverly Hills office, he held up digital renderings of the two buildings, the geisha’s face from “Blade Runner” superimposed on their facade

People are lining up to condemn the idea, citing light pollution, too m any advertisements as it is, driver distraction etc. Others, however, love the idea and think it would bring LA into the future where it belongs. The article quoted above is from July of last year, does anyone out there know the fate of the development and the signs?

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