FALL RIVER — A billboard is sprouting up on the city’s waterfront, more than four years after it was initially granted city approval.
Workers are in the process of installing the V-shaped double-sided electronic LED billboard in the Boardwalk Crossing plaza at the corner of President Avenue and Davol Street.
“I think we’re going to do well down here,” said Frank Marchione, trustee of the Catahoula Realty Trust, which owns the plaza property.
According to the special permit granted to erect the sign, it will reach a maximum of 50 feet high.
The support for an elevated billboard is in place in the Boardwalk Crossing plaza along Davol Street in Fall River on May 12, 2026.
It is not the only billboard to face the redesigned Route 79-Davol Street corridor, but the newest since the corridor was leveled and reconstructed.
“It’s going to be a beautiful sign,” Marchione said. “If any of you have been to the … Seaport District [in Boston], it can be tastefully done.”
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The support beam for an elevated billboard is in place along Davol Street in Fall River on May 12, 2026.
Permit for billboard dates to 2021
The Massachusetts Department of Transportation’s Office of Outdoor Advertising granted final permission for the billboard in September 2025, as initially reported by Fall River Development News.
The billboard was first granted city approval at a Dec. 16, 2021, meeting of the Zoning Board of Appeals, where Marchione was represented by Dan Aguiar, then working with SITEC Engineering. Aguiar in 2022 became the city engineer.
The ZBA at the time granted a special permit for Catahoula Realty Trust to erect the billboard, with a height limit of no greater than 50 feet. At that time, MassDOT had not yet begun demolition of the Route 79 elevated highway; the project was in the design stages.
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The frame for a V-shaped LED electronic billboard sits on the ground at Boardwalk Crossing along Davol Street in Fall River on May 12, 2026.
Zoning allows for billboards
Boardwalk Crossing is in Fall River’s Waterfront and Transit-Oriented Development District.
Per city regulations, electronic signs are allowed in that zone. The rules contain restrictions based on brightness or the types of images shown.
Marchione said the application process was lengthy, and part of it required him to “conduct a very expensive and exhaustive traffic study” before being granted permission to build. If in a year the billboard negatively affects traffic, he said, “we could lose our permit.”
Marchione said besides commercial advertisements, the billboard will also display messages from nonprofits and welcome messages.
“By state regulation, we also do quite a bit of public service announcements,” he said.
How many other billboards are there in Fall River?
Marchione also operates an LED billboard on property he owns at 160 Hartwell St., overlooking Plymouth Avenue and Interstate 195.
The only other billboard currently active along the Route 79-Davol Street Corridor is atop 1244 Davol St., a static billboard operated by Judson Group Inc.
Information from the Office of Outdoor Advertising indicates Fall River has more than 40 billboards citywide, though not all are elevated.
This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Billboard going up along Fall River’s redesigned waterfront
