Amid high-rise office building boom, Boston grapples with corporate signage rules

High-rise office developers and tenants are eager to post their company names and logos in lights on new office towers, but the city has historically made it difficult to do so.

The Boston Redevelopment Authority has had an informal approach to its signage rules with little in writing to guide developers; however, a spike in office construction has prompted the board to work on a new, more formal sign policy. Until the past few years, only about a half dozen corporate signs could be found atop the city’s tall buildings.

Recent projects near the waterfront, though, have included prominent corporate signage, and more requests are soon likely. A Redevelopment Authority spokesman told the Boston Globe that the preference is for distinctive looking buildings to dominate the skyline, not brightly lit signs.

The new rules will be treated more like guidelines, the starting point for negotiations in many cases, the Globe reported.