Headquarters of the United Nations temporary site. Another alternative for a temporary headquarters or a new permanent facility was the World Trade Center site. Once again, these plans met resistance both within the UN and from the United States and New York governments and were abandoned. By September 2015, the renovations were nearly complete but the cost had risen to $2.15 billion. Demolition of the North Lawn Building began in January 2016. The building was replaced with an open plaza, and most of its materials were to be recycled. Due to the significance of the organization, proposals to relocate its headquarters have occasionally been made.
Jehovah's Witnesses and the United Nations president, claimed the newly formed United Nations was the scarlet-colored wild beast of Revelation that would be ridden by the woman "Babylon", which Knorr identified as "the religious organization with headquarters at Vatican City". In 1963 Jehovah's Witnesses adopted a resolution establishing the official view of the United Nations. The resolution was published in the November 15, 1963 issue of "Watchtower". At 24 assemblies held throughout the year, a total of 454,977 convention attendees adopted the resolution. Regarding the United Nations, paragraph 5 of that resolution states, "the nations further refused the surrender of their sovereignty to God's Messianic kingdom