AMAZING VIEWS: Preview of One World Trade Center observatory

Josh Einiger Image
Wednesday, October 29, 2014
Preview of the view from One World Trade observatory
Josh Einiger reports from Lower Manhattan.

NEW YORK (WABC) -- A powerful visual symbol will open to the public next spring 13 and a half years after the terrorist attacks: the chance to get to the top of One World Trade.

The observatory offers the kind of views New Yorkers haven't seen since the twin towers were destroyed. Now a look from the inside looking out.

At One World Trade the elevators are still loaded with construction equipment.

Workers are still putting the finishing touches on the tallest building in the western hemisphere.

And at the very top is a view off limits to the public since the attacks of 9/11. It's a view that soon will once again, belong to you.

Tuesday, Legends Hospitality, which operates Yankee Stadium and has the contract to run the World Trade Center observatory, offered Eyewitness News a firsthand look at one of the most breathtaking sights in the world.

It is a breathtaking view that for the most awful of reasons has been off limits to the public for nearly a decade and a half.

But by the end of next spring, this three level observatory will be open to the public.

Restaurants above and below this amazing view will not come for free.

A rendering shows the bells and whistles of what will be a major tourist attraction.

The prices will also be sky high at $32 per person. By contrast, the top deck of the Empire State Building is $46 bucks and at Rockefeller Center it's $29.

But Annette Jansen, who's visiting from Holland to run the marathon this weekend, says she'd gladly pay the full freight to see the city from a vantage point, off limits for so long.

"Wherever you go around here you have to pay! If you go to the Empire State Building or Rockefeller Center it's expensive, but you pay for the view," Jansen said.

"Should they give New Yorkers a discount? Yes. But foreigners? Hey. They want to see the place they got to pay!" said Jose Ramos, a worker.