The Rebuilding of Ground Zero, Part 26

While requests for proposal to operate the Freedom Tower observation deck are being sought from prospective companies, the first phase of fundraising for the 9/11 Memorial at Ground Zero has been completed.

A fund for the National September 11 Memorial & Museum at the World Trade Center has reached a $350 million construction fundraising goal after a recent donation by the financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald, which lost 658 employees in the attacks of September 11, 2001.

Mayor Bloomberg, who took over as chairman of the September 11 Memorial & Museum in October 2006 and has donated at least $15 million to the project, announced yesterday at the quarterly board of directors meeting that more than $217 million toward the first phase of fund-raising had been raised in the past year and a half, including $10 million from Cantor Fitzgerald. More than 60,000 individuals contributed from 50 states and 31 countries.