Television broadcast facility to be part of 4 Times Square.

To fill a need created by the loss of the World Trade Center, The Durst Organization will develop a television broadcast facility with a 358-foot multiple master-antenna transmission tower and an emergency power back-up system on the roof of its Four Times Square office building, report Douglas Durst and Jody Durst, co-presidents.

The new facility will rise to 1,142 feet above mean sea level, and tests indicate it will provide signal coverage equal to 97-98% of the coverage from atop the World Trade Center, according to the Dursts. The new tower will incorporate an FM radio transmission center that is already located on the roof.

Construction is slated to begin in February. The facility is expected to be operational in the summer of 2003.

"Our goal is to have all local television and FM broadcasters using Four Times Square as their backup transmission facility," says Douglas Durst. Eight FM radio stations are currently in place at the existing Four Times Square rooftop center.

The New York City region's principal TV transmission facility had been located atop the World Trade Center. Since its loss, all major television stations, with one exception, are using the Empire State Building as their primary transmission center but have lacked an adequate backup site.

"A Four Times Square television broadcast tower can play an important role in the city's continuing economic vitality," says Jody Durst.

He notes that a major advantage of the new facility is that it would enable broadcasters to temporarily relocate their primary operations from the Empire State Building, providing that structure with an opportunity to complete the upgrade of its capabilities.

The uppermost portion of Four Times Square was originally conceived and designed with broadcasters in mind, and the building has successfully accommodated a growing roster of radio stations, according to Douglas Durst. He observes that the design is "especially sensitive to the unique needs of the broadcast industry and was developed in consultation with broadcast engineers."

The new facility will accommodate "plug and play" station operation and provide round-the-clock ventilation and air conditioning capacity with an emergency power system and parallel generators sized for full-power transmitter operation.