Top of the world: Empire Realty Trust rehabs, reopens famous observation deck

A real estate investment trust that counts among its holdings office and retail properties in Westchester and Fairfield counties has reopened to visitors the observation decks at another of its properties that happens to be an iconic structure: the Empire State Building.

Empire State Realty Trust has made some changes and imposed new regulations at the landmark building because of the Covid-19 pandemic. For example, if King Kong returned to the top of the Empire State today he”™d be required to wear a mask and stay at least 6 feet from Fay Wray.

Last December, shortly before the pandemic hit the U.S., Empire State Realty Trust had completed a $165 million redevelopment of the 86th floor observation deck and 102nd floor top deck observatory. A glass elevator carries visitors between the floors.

As part of the redevelopment, the observatory entrance, previously on Fifth Avenue, was relocated to 34th Street. In response to the virus, visitors now arriving at the discrete observatory entrance will undergo a contactless temperature check to make sure they”™re not running a fever and are 100.4 degrees or less. They”™ll be required to wear a face covering throughout their visit.

Hours of operation after the reopening were reduced from what they previously had been and are now 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. Initial capacity for the 70,000 square feet of observation space was reduced by more than 80% with only 500 people at a time allowed to be in the observation spaces in order to promote social distancing.

Visitors can experience a number of exhibits telling the story of the building and some exhibits that formerly required interactive inputs have been revised to run automatically. The pedestal-mounted binoculars around the observation areas that had been used by visitors for closer views of the sights are not available for use since they require eye-area contact.

The approximately 100 employees assigned to observatory operations have been trained in the use of personal protective equipment, new cleaning procedures, additional customer service, tracing and back-of-house protocols.

The observatory redevelopment included installation of air purification equipment and the use of MERV 13 filters in air handling equipment. Filters rated at MERV 13 are designed to be able to filter particles as small as 0.3 micron, which includes viruses.

Empire State Realty Trust”™s portfolio as of March 31 included more than 10 million square feet in 14 properties. In White Plains, it has a 12-story office building at 10 Bank St. In Harrison, Empire”™s office property at 500 Mamaroneck Ave. is on 35 acres.

Empire has one retail and four office sites in Fairfield. First Stamford Place is a three-building office complex with almost 800,000 rentable square feet adjacent to the Stamford Transportation Center. Empire also has the Metro Center building at One Station Place in Stamford as well as the Metro Tower. Empire has the MerrittView office building in Norwalk. In Westport, it has a one-story retail space at 103-107 Main St.

The Empire State Building, of course, would be a standout in any real estate portfolio and not only because of its 102 stories and 1,454 feet height to the top of its antenna tower. The building itself had soared to 1,250 feet before a tower holding antennas for TV and FM radio stations was installed in 1950. It was 1,472 feet to the top of the antenna tower. In 1985, the original tower was replaced with slightly shorter one, reducing the overall height to 1,454 feet.

The top of the building originally had been designed to be a mooring mast for rigid airships, with passengers walking across a catwalk from the Zeppelins into the building.

The idea was impractical from the outset because of the winds that often whip across the top of the building and the large crew required to land and secure an airship. In September 1931, the Goodyear blimp Columbia attempted to make a package pick-up from the mast but was unable to do so due to high winds.

On July 28, 1945, a U.S. Army B-25 bomber flying in thick clouds and fog crashed into the 78th floor of the building. The three airplane crewmembers and 11 people in the building were killed.

By 1976, the building”™s observation decks had been visited by 50 million people.

In a March 31, 2020, filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Empire State Realty Trust said that it had closed the Empire State Building Observatory because of Covid-19 but anticipated that with a reopening admissions would ramp up to 40% of normal for the August 2020 through March 2021 period.

By Easter 2021, it expected admissions to be at 60% of the 2019 level with a return to full admissions by January 2022. It reported that for the three months ending March 31, observatory operations brought in $19.54 million of the Empire State Building”™s overall $69.68 million in receipts for the quarter.

According to a year-end report for 2019 filed with the SEC, the observatory revenue was $128.8 million. Overall Empire State Building revenue was $327.7 million.

Construction of the Empire State Building, which contains approximately 2.9 million square feet, began on March 17, 1930. Empire State Inc., headed by former New York Gov. Alfred E. Smith had been formed by investors John Jakob Raskob, Coleman and Pierre du Pont, Louis G. Kaufman and Ellis P. Earle.

The building”™s plans were drawn up by architects Shreve, Lamb & Harmon Associates and the construction was by Starret Bros. & Eken, which built the steel framework at the rate of 4½ stories a week. Construction took one year and 45 days. The building officially opened on May 1, 1931. It cost $24.7 million to build, with another $16 million for the land and demolition of the original Waldorf-Astoria Hotel that had been on the 34th Street and Fifth Avenue site.