The Freedom Tower

The field of qualified builders who will be chosen to errect an observation deck on top of the Freedom Tower will be narrowed by The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
The PA, owner of the World Trade Center building site has created and issued a request for qualifications for the deck that will be built on the 102nd floor of the new Freedom Tower.

The Port Authority will narrow the field of possible developers, and a second request for proposals will go out in the fourth quarter of 2008 with a firm expected to be chosen in early 2009, authorities say. The observation area is expected to open in 2012, a spokeswoman for the Port Authority said.

Two World Trade Center had a 44,000-square-foot observation deck that complemented the Windows on the World restaurant. The new observation deck will be around 18,000 square feet.

The Port Authority already sent out a request for proposals for restaurants that would exist on the 100th and 101st floors of the Freedom Tower, and said it has received 11 responses. The executive director of Port Authority, Anthony Shorris, said the new tower would be “an open, lively public space integrated with the rest of the city, where residents and tourists can dine, shop, or get spectacular aerial views of Manhattan as well as neighboring states.”