Keeping the New Jersey Palisades Pretty (and Bird-Safe)

On Tuesday the birds and people that use the land along the Hudson River in New York and New Jersey got a reprieve from a threat and eyesore. A proposed office building, the future North American headquarters of South Korean conglomerate LG, will be built to stand half as tall as it was originally designed, the company announced.

LG decided to revise its plans after a number of conservation and preservationist groups objected to the design. The old design called for a 143-foot building that opponents said would mar the panoramic vistas and pose a threat to migratory birds in the area. With the new plan, the building will stand just under 70 feet high.

After the plan to build the headquarters was announced in 2013, Audubon, Natural Resources Defense Council, and other NGOs called for LG to alter it to be less invasive. Opposition came in the form of protests at the proposed construction site, and in letters directly to LG asking them to consider their plans, including one from Audubon President and CEO David Yarnold.

Eleven months of negotiations ensued. According to the New York Times and Laurance Rockefeller, one of the most persuasive arguments for the change was the building’s potential impact to bird populations: LG’s chairman, Bon-Moo Koo, is an avid bird-watcher and published a field guide to the birds of Korea.

LG says it plans to break ground on the building by mid-2016.