After more than a year of controversy over plans for a 143-foot office building atop Palisades Park, preservationists believe they have saved the view from the iconic American landmark in New Jersey's Englewood Cliffs.
Protect the Palisades, an advocacy group, announced Tuesday that a deal had been reached with LG Electronics USA to create a "world-class, sustainably designed building" to meet the company's needs that will not obstruct the park's view.
The Korean-based LG Electronics agreed to keep the height of its new office building to just shy of 70 feet, half the height of the original proposed structure, the advocacy group said. It will have a five-story north wing and a three-story south wing, protecting the inimitable park views, which are especially notable from northern Manhattan and the lower portion of the Bronx.
When Palisades Interstate Park, running from Fort Lee into New York on the west side of the Hudson, was created in the early 1900s, there was a stipulation that prevented any development from surpassing the tree line.
But Englewood Cliffs, in order to accommodate LG's North American headquarters expansion, agreed to the greater height despite protests from preservationists.
The sides argued for nearly a year about the building prior to Tuesday's settlement, which was reached with Scenic Hudson, the New Jersey State Federation of Women’s Clubs, the Natural Resources Defense Council, New Jersey Conservation Foundation and New York-New Jersey Trail Conference.
As part of the settlement, the conservation groups agreed to withdraw their pending legal appeal regarding zoning approvals in Englewood Cliffs and pledged to work with LG to secure necessary municipal approvals so the project can move forward as expeditiously as possible, according to Protect the Palisades.
LG will implement landscape, lighting and other design features to further reduce visual impacts, while retaining the scale of the complex as home for LG’s growing U.S. business, Protect the Palisades said in a statement.
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The plan maintains the LG complex’s design that aspires for LEED Platinum certification and includes protecting woodlands and six wetlands on the 27-acre site in Englewood Cliffs. The new 360,000-square-foot corporate campus at on Sylvan Avenue will allow LG to double its local employment to more than 1,000 by 2019, while creating thousands of construction jobs in the shorter term.
“We have found a solution that satisfies LG’s business needs and addresses concerns of our neighbors on both sides of the Hudson," William Cho, President and CEO of LG Electronics USA, said in a statement. "The discussions were constructive, and parties on both sides showed a willingness to compromise, recognizing that there is a greater good to be acknowledged for the people, economy and environment of New Jersey.”
Laurance Rockefeller, an environmental lawyer whose family donated the land 80 years ago that became the basis for the Palisades Interstate Park and was a leading participant in the discussions, called it a "win-win" resolution.
-Brian Thompson contributed to this report
