Talk:Empire State Building

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The article states the Empire State Building is the 57th completed skyscraper in the world and the 9th tallest in New York. However the links provided with these facts show it is in fact the 59th and 10th respectively 82.19.142.255 (talk) 14:18, 18 March 2025 (UTC)

Hey! Mind including some references? Valorrr (talk) 04:41, 22 March 2025 (UTC)

 Done meamemg (talk) 17:42, 24 March 2025 (UTC)

Hi, I think there might be a typo in the « 42 » years tallest skyscraper duration.

As it is said to be finished in 1931 and surpassed in 1970 (top-out date of the north world trade center earlier in the page. And in the “world trade center” page), it is a total of 39 years according to theses dates.

The wikipedia page “History of the world's tallest buildings” in section “List of historically tallest skyscrapers” sates that the duration is 40 years with 1971 as the date of completion of the world trade center.

it think it should specified that it is 39years until the top-out date of world trade center, or 40years until the completion.

Thank you very much for your support! 37.169.37.197 (talk) 01:23, 17 June 2025 (UTC)

The elevators in the building have undergone many modernizations since installation. The first modernization was done by Millar, and the second modernization was done by Otis. The elevators leading to the observation decks are manned by operators using remote controls. 100.11.10.40 (talk) 03:30, 7 July 2025 (UTC)

Hi all- this section says "Prudential sold the land under the building in 1991 for $42 million to a buyer representing hotelier Hideki Yokoi". To my knowledge this is a misstatement. The ownership of the _land_ and the _building_ was never separated. The issue was that the _prime leaseholders_ (Helmsley and Malkin) held the lease for decades into the future, and the lease payments were small relative to the subleasing income. Therefore the building (and the land) weren't worth very much.

Yokoi, sitting in prison, sent his daughter Kiiko Nakahara out to lock up his assets by purchasing trophy properties. The Empire State Building was one of these. It wasn't just the land that was sold -- *it was in fact the building*. But Helmsley and Malkin still held the master lease.

Incidentally, though I'm not sure it merits being in the article, Trump's involvement was to convince Nakahara that he would sue Helmsley and Malkin to break the master lease, at which point he would have been able, by contractual arrangement with Yokoi, to redevelop the top floors into luxury condos. This, of course, never came to pass.

I suggest clarifying that Prudential sold the BUILDING, not just the land.

References:

0) https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB940289924191804324

1) https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1991/11/01/367091.html?pageNumber=83

2) https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1991/05/20/612291.html?pageNumber=1

3) https://www.amazon.com/Empire-Obsession-Betrayal-Battle-American/dp/0471403946

4) https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB1016495483951865600 Ghomsy1 (talk) 07:26, 16 February 2026 (UTC)

Ah. Here's the article I read in 1998 that first clued me in to this story. It gives the tersest explanation:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB897278676875528500?mod=Searchresults&pos=1&page=1 Ghomsy1 (talk) 07:33, 16 February 2026 (UTC)

You raise a good point regarding the ownership. Your reference (1) is actually already in the article, but I'll look at what the WSJ says later this week. In the meantime, I've changed this to "Prudential sold the property..." – Epicgenius (talk) 16:59, 16 February 2026 (UTC)