South Korean tech giant LG Electronics officially started construction of its new U.S. headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. The company commemorated the occasion by holding a ceremony at the location on Tuesday, NJBIZ reports. The construction of the facilities that will host all of LG’s companies in the United States will be completed by late 2019, as revealed by William Cho, Chief Executive Officer at LG Electronics North America. LG’s new corporate campus will span over 350,000 square feet and cost approximately $300 million. The plans for the project were made public in 2012, but the company already started planning for the new campus back in 2009. LG obtained all of the necessary permissions to start the construction last June.
The Seoul-based consumer electronics manufacturer would likely have started building the campus sooner had its plans not been delayed by numerous controversies. However, LG managed to work out the differences with local environmental organizations concerned about its project before proceeding to realize it. This move was praised by the New Jersey Sierra Club, as well as the current administration of Englewood Cliffs. The Mayor of the Borough Mario Kranjac said that LG’s new headquarters will help bring more innovative companies to Englewood Cliffs without negatively affecting the environment. The company is apparently planning to plant over 1,500 trees on its campus and power a portion of its facilities with photovoltaic solar panels. The project is currently helmed by Turner Construction, but LG already confirmed it will organize a tender process to choose a primary construction management partner in the near future.
Representatives of the company said that the project will temporarily create 2,000 construction jobs in Bergen County while also increasing local employment to 1,000 once it’s completed. Finally, LG’s new facilities are expected to add approximately $26 million in revenue to the County. Once completed, the corporate campus is meant to focus on the premium home appliances market in North America, LG’s largest overseas market. It remains to be seen whether LG will manage to finish the construction of its new U.S. corporate offices by 2019, but after all of the trouble the company went through to secure this location, it’s likely eager to follow through.