Content area
Full text
NEW YORK -- Like a homecoming somewhere over the Rainbow Room, Joe Baum is returning to Windows On The World to resurrect the famous restaurant he opened in 1976 atop the World Trade Center.
Joseph Baum & Michael Whiteman Co. has been selected by the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey -- owners of the internationally recognized, twin-towers office and retail complex -- to redevelop Windows On The World with a new luster and vitality.
No neophytes in running huge, high-grossing restaurants that sit atop popular hi-rises, the Baum-Whiteman group is perhaps best known for their crown jewel, the Rainbow Room on the 65th floor at Rockefeller Center.
Baum and Whiteman beat out some 35 prominent restaurateurs who submitted proposals to the Port Authority to take over the legendary space. David Bouley, chef-owner of Bouley, Warner LeRoy, owner of Tavern On The Green, and Alan Stillman were among the finalists.
The Port Authority relied on six restaurant industry veterans to act as a peer review to make the final selection.
Occupying two stories on the 106th and 107th floors of the WTC, the restaurant was among the few businesses that never reopened after the powerful Feb. 26, 1993, terrorist bombing that killed six people, injured a thousand and caused millions of...