One World Trade Center hopes the latest tourist trend, visiting observation decks, will provide a robust revenue stream for the $3.9 billion tower in lower Manhattan.
The owners expect the observation space, developed by Legends Hospitality LLC, to generate nearly a quarter ($53 million) of the building's annual revenue by 2019, according to The Wall Street Journal. The skyscraper's first tenants will enter their office spaces early next month and the observation deck will open to visitors by next spring.
Legends Hospitality has not announced specific ticket prices, but they will compete with The Empire State Building's ticket cost of $29 and up for an adult. The deck will stand 1,250 feet above the Manhattan streets. The tower stands at 1,776 feet.
"It is going to be a world- class visitor experience," Patrick Foye, the Port Authority's executive director, told the Journal. "We think that it is an attractive financial proposition."
One World Trade expects to have 95 percent of its office space leased by 2019, and that would account for $144 million in annual operating income.
The Port Authority toyed with the idea of adding a top-tier restaurant at the tower's peak, but ultimately nixed the idea to add as much money to the observation facility. The space will include a restaurant and catering, but will not match the "Windows on the World" venue that sat in the North Tower of the original Twin Towers.
Other ideas for the extra space included hotel or residential space, but the observation deck will bring in more money than either of those ideas.
"It's got to be at least four times more valuable as observation space than as office space," Richard Stockton, chief executive of the U.S. arm of Overseas Union Enterprise Ltd., told the Journal. The company owns the U.S. Bank Tower, the tallest tower in Los Angeles. "You can charge between $20 and $30 for tickets to go to the top and people will stay there on average 20 minutes or so."
New York City already touts two major observation decks and a new skyscraper west of Midtown also has plans to install a large deck. The Empire State Building on 34th Street has two observation decks. The open air deck on the 86th floor stands 1050 feet above Manhattan and the enclosed observatory on the 102nd floor stands at 1,211 feet. Top of the Rock visitors go straight to the top of the GE Building, which stands at 850 feet.
