Lights Tower 220 Feet Above Columbia

COLUMBIA, MD - A Columbia construction company has set the bar higher for Christmas lights.

This week Costello Construction lit up Town Center from a crane at Little Patuxent Square, its latest project.

Employees strung 2,500 bulbs around the crane, which towers 220 feet above the ground.

At the end of the crane is a 15-foot Christmas tree.

“It’s big and bright,” David Costello, president of Costello Construction, told Patch.

Costello noted that the attraction is especially pronounced during a season when the Symphony of Lights display is taking a year off due to construction around Merriweather Post Pavilion.

He suggested viewing the lights from the Lord & Taylor parking lot at The Mall in Columbia or from Lake Kittamaqundi. Drivers can also get a glimpse of Columbia’s bright spot on their commute.

“From US 29 you can see [the crane]—it reaches into your car and says: ‘Come visit me,’” Costello said. “You look across the lake, and you see the crane and you think, ’I need to go find that thing and get up next to it.’”

Lights are on from dusk until dawn. The crane will be illuminated through the holidays at the Little Patuxent Square construction site—off Little Patuxent Parkway at Wincopin Circle in Columbia.

• Symphony of Lights Goes Dark in 2015
• Little Patuxent Square Breaks Ground Downtown

Little Patuxent Square broke ground in 2014, and the sheer magnitude of the project allowed for the festive crane to play its part this holiday season.

“It’s very unlikely we’d have anything that big in Columbia again,” Costello told Patch. “It’s a unique project.”

When complete, the 700,000-square-foot building at Little Patuxent Square will include residential, retail and office space spanning nine stories, capped by a rooftop pool. An additional five stories will provide below-grade parking.

“It’s much more massive than your run-of-the-mill nine-story office building,” Costello said.

Little Patuxent Square is projected to open in late 2016.

Photo Credit: Nate Smith.