Construction continues daily to finish Edmonton’s new downtown arena, and new features on the building are going in daily – including a brightly lit digital billboard.

However, those living close to Rogers Place aren’t so excited at the new addition, especially for Andrea Pon, whose bedroom faces onto the billboard.

“The bedroom is completely lit up, even with the blinds closed it’s still kinda comes through and it’s pretty bright all night,” Pon said.

“Hopefully when things start to happen it won’t be so ‘PCL’ white” Pon said. “As it even rotates through you can see some of them are blue, some of them are black, which isn’t so bad. But the white one is the one that kind of gets us the most.”

She lives in the nearby Square 104 apartment complex, and said it’s been difficult to keep the light from the billboard from streaming in.

Pon, and her boyfriend have lived in the third floor east-facing apartment for about a year. She said they like the location, and the bright billboard is the first issue they’ve had.

CTV News reached out to officials for comment, and received a statement from Bob Black, executive vice president of the Edmonton Arena Corporation:

“We have focused on being good neighbours throughout the project.

“In furtherance of this, we opened a dialogue with the adjacent property owner, Morguard Developments, during the design of the board. This dialogue led to changes in the originally contemplated design in order to minimize the impact upon our neighbours. We have express support from Morguard for the final design.

“During initial testing, the board has not been on automatic control throughout. Once commissioned, it will operate to automatically dim to 5 percent illumination at sunset.”

For now, Pon has complained to her building’s management and advised to get blackout drapes.

CTV News spoke with the building manager, who said blackout blinds have already been ordered for the four suites directly across from the new billboard – but she said she’s also heard complaints from drivers who say the new billboard is distracting.

With files from Jeremy Thompson