Through tears of grief Friday, David Emil, an owner of Windows on the World, arguably the nation's most famous and successful restaurant, said he wants to find a way to rebuild.
"We're not going to give up," says Mr. Emil, a former president of the Battery Park City Authority and a longtime booster of downtown development. "I believe that Windows should reopen, but how that will happen and how long that will be from now is too early to tell."
Replacing this landmark eatery, which was perched atop the north tower of the World Trade Center, will not come easy, or fast—if at all. This is the second time the restaurant was hit by disaster. It was already seen as a comeback kid when it reopened after the 1993 bombing, following a $25 million revamp.
But many close to Windows want it to rise yet again as a symbol of the city's ability to survive this crisis.