The award was recently presented to Shea Properties during the city's Distinguished Arts Awards program in recognition of the company's many contributions to the "Save the Birds" fundraising campaign, launched in 1998 by the Seacliff Public Art Committee.

Shea received the award for its efforts to preserve the "Seacliff Shore Birds" public art collection, valued at more than $1 million. The collection, displayed for more than 20 years at the original Seacliff Village shopping center, was removed and re-installed in City Hall thanks in large part to Shea's $210,000 gift to the campaign. A public dedication ceremony for the collection was held on Dec. 4, 1999.

In all, the collection consists of 16 large, hand-painted ceramic tile murals; 79 metal pelican sculptures mounted on pier pilings; and numerous museum-quality natural history dioramas, habitat maps and other decorative elements. Various artists, architects, museum curators and scientists collaborated on the collection.