GlobeSt.com UPDATE: LMDC/PA Finalists Down to Two; Decision Expected Today

NEW YORK CITY-The six-member selection committee charged with picking the winning bid to compile an urban design and transportation study for Lower Manhattan has narrowed its list of finalists to two groups. A final decision is expected to be handed down this afternoon.

An LMDC official confirms for GlobeSt.com that the two teams left in the running are EE&K/URS–a joint venture of local architectural firm Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn and San Francisco-based engineering firm URS Corp, and a partnership between Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners LLP and engineering firm Parsons Brinckerhoff, both based here.

Both teams were among the six firms interviewed last week by the selection committee, which includes three members of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. and three representatives of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. The winning bid will be chosen from an original field of 15 respondents to a joint LMDC/PA RFP sent out last month. (Click here to read GlobeSt.com’s earlier story.)