The New York Times-20080129-Developer Sought for Restaurant in Freedom Tower

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Developer Sought for Restaurant in Freedom Tower

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For the price of a meal, Windows on the World atop 1 World Trade Center offered diners a spot in the stratosphere, a spot that was lost -- along with so much else -- on Sept. 11, 2001.

It may be merely a footnote to a national calamity, William Grimes, then a restaurant critic for The New York Times, wrote a week later, but the collapse of the World Trade Center's two towers ended an era in New York City dining.

On Monday, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which is building the new 1 World Trade Center (also known as the Freedom Tower), set out to find whether anyone wants to try to revive that era.

It issued what is called a request for expressions of interest from developers who would design, construct, operate and manage a 34,000-square-foot restaurant on the 100th and 101st floors of the new tower.

The space, commanding a 360-degree panorama nearly 1,250 feet above street level, would be served by as many as five express elevators.

The grand opening is planned for early 2013.

The restaurant operator may also be chosen to run the 24,000-square-foot observation deck on the 102nd floor.

But a question posed by Mr. Grimes yet to be answered:

Will diners ever again find that perspective enchanting? he wrote more than six years ago, and added, Exhilaration has now become too closely interwoven with terror.