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Originally Posted by chris08876
Why are some of them texting?! Greatest view in the world and they are texting "lol" most likely.
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I haven't noticed it as much at 30 Rock or the Empire State, but I guess it was much less of a "social media" haze back in the days of the old WTC deck.
Anyway, I wish they would put up a scale model of Manhattan, or at least Downtown (though it may be too early). There was one at the old deck.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/01/ny...nues.html?_r=0
Up on the Roof: Top-Floor Attractions Help Maximize Revenues
By CHARLES V. BAGLI
MAY 31, 2015
Adam Rose, the developer of 70 Pine Street, (without helmet), leads a tour of the condominium project, where four of the top floors will be open to the public
for dining and drinking.
Felix Meinhof, 3, takes in a live image in the “sky portal,” on the opening day of One World Observatory near the top of One World Trade Center in Manhattan on Friday.
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In a city crowded with venerable towers and gleaming new skyscrapers, builders and developers are trying to squeeze more money out of their real estate by taking advantage
of one of their last available spaces: their rooftops.
Cocktail lounges and restaurants have popped up on the tops of hotels, office towers and residential buildings, offering views of the city’s skyline, its bridges and waterfront,
as well as $20 mixed drinks.
Even higher are observatories in the tallest skyscrapers, which are tapping into the city’s soaring tourism market. The city’s highest perch officially opened on Friday, when
five elevators started whisking visitors 1,268 feet up to the 102nd floor of 1 World Trade Center — in 48 seconds — for “helicopter views” of Manhattan and beyond.
...The new trade center observatory will compete for visitors with two heavily trafficked viewing sites: Top of the Rock, at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, and the Empire State
Building, the gold standard of observation decks with 4.3 million visitors last year.
And more are on the way. On the Far West Side of Manhattan, one developer has designed a two-story, outdoor observation deck-bar-restaurant that will be cantilevered
over the Time Warner Building, 1,100 feet above Hudson Yards, at 33rd Street and 10th Avenue.
Next to Grand Central Terminal on East 42nd Street, another developer has planned an observatory at the top of One Vanderbilt, a proposed 63-story office tower.
...In Lower Manhattan, a developer is reopening a boutique-size, glass-enclosed observatory at the top of a 66-story tower at 70 Pine Street as part of a four-story restaurant and bar.
One developer, Gary Barnett, has already scrapped plans to put an observatory atop the slender 1,775-foot tall Nordstrom Tower he is building on West 57th Street, saying
he would rather sell condominiums than sacrifice valuable square footage. “You need express elevators, staircases,” Mr. Barnett said. “It costs you square footage on every floor.”
The number of visitors at the Empire State, one of the most recognizable buildings in the world, has risen year after year, with annual revenues more than doubling to $111.5
million last year, from $40 million in 2004. The deck, whose profit last year was $82.5 million, now accounts for 40 percent of the building’s entire revenue.
Adam Rose, a developer, is converting 70 Pine Street, an Art Deco building near the New York Stock Exchange, into what promise to be the most expensive rental apartments
in Lower Manhattan, with a restaurant and bars on floors 62, 63, 64 and 66 to be managed by the team behind the Spotted Pig, the celebrated West Village restaurant.
He is restoring the observatory, where diners will have unobstructed views and the ability to walk out onto the narrow terraces. Mr. Rose is spending $5 million to create an
amenity for tenants and a downtown nightspot.
“This is a major element of making 70 Pine Street special,” Mr. Rose said. “It adds value to everything below it.”
Mr. Rose’s project is not designed to compete with the big observatories and will never attract millions of tourists. But like Top of the Rock, the outdoor terraces on the 66th
floor of 70 Pine will offer visitors a sense of being among the city’s skyscrapers, rather than looking down on other buildings from the clouds.
But David Checketts, chief executive of Legends, said he was not worried about the competition or whether New York has reached an observatory saturation point.
“I imagine the Empire State Building has upped its advertising budget,” he said. “It’s an elevator ride and a view. There’s Top of the Rock and there’ll be others. They’re kind
of back in vogue. But I do think this one will be highly desirable, because we’re next to the September 11 Memorial, the museum and a resurgent downtown.”
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“Office buildings are our factories – whether for tech, creative or traditional industries we must continue to grow our modern factories to create new jobs,” said United States Senator Chuck Schumer.
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