3 Bidders Left to Run World Trade Center Observatory

By CHARLES V. BAGLI

And then there were three.

A French firm, a Canadian outfit and the company that runs the stadiums for the Dallas Cowboys and the New York Yankees are the finalists in a fierce eight-way competition to operate what will be one of the highest and presumably most lucrative observatories in the nation, at 1 World Trade Center, according to bidders and other executives involved in the bidding process.

When the building opens in 2014, millions of visitors a year are expected to pay about $25 each to be whisked from the basement of the skyscraper to a three-level attraction more than 1,230 feet above the street, on floors 100 through 102. Revenues, experts say, should exceed $100 million annually.

The observatory, which will offer unobstructed views of the city, New York Harbor, Westchester County, Long Island and New Jersey, will compete against similar attractions at Top of the Ro ck, at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, and the Empire State Building, whose observatory decks attract four million visitors and generate $60 million a year in profits.

In recent years, observatories have become big businesses. The new observatory downtown is expected to take some market share from its competitors. It has the capacity to handle five million visitors a year.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which is desperately searching for new sources of revenue, hopes that it has found one in the observatory.

The Port Authority, which owns 1 World Trade Center in partnership with the Durst real estate family, quietly notified the three firms on Tuesday night that they had emerged from a list of eight contestants. The losing bidders include Aramark, a national food services company; Ripley Entertainment, an entertainment company that operates museums and aquariums; and Anthony E. Malkin, who operates the Empire State Building.

Initially, the Port Authority had considered opening a high-end restaurant at the top of the tower similar to Windows on the World, which was destroyed in the 2001 terrorist attack. But it concluded that a full-fledged restaurant would slow the flow of visitors. In their bids, the three finalists all included food options as well as event space for private parties.

The finalists are:

-Legends Hospitality Management, a company owned by the New York Yankees, the Dallas Cowboys and David W. Checketts, which runs food services and merchandise sales at a number of stadiums and arenas.

-GSM Projects, a Canadian company, is working with Danny Meyer, who owns a stable of restaurants, including Blue Smoke, Union Square Cafe and the Shake Shack chain, as well as concessions at Citi Field and the Saratoga Race Course.

-Montparnasse 56 USA, an affiliate of the French firm that runs an observatory and restaurant at the Montparnasse Tower in Paris. In July, the company bought the obs ervatory on the 94th floor of the John Hancock Center in Chicago. For the food services of the New York venture, Montparnasse has enlisted the Gerber Group, which operates the Whiskey Blue, Lilium and Living Room bars in New York, and Marc Murphy, the chef who owns the Landmarc restaurants in New York.