A success story in the making for the W&H portfolio is the Empire State ReBuilding: the top-to-bottom renovation of the world's most famous office building.

What does the rebuilding entail? To begin with, the $500 million in capital improvement projects will include the Beyer Blender Belle designed restoration of the Empire State Building's landmarked art deco lobby and original lobby ceiling mural, creation of office tenant- and visitors-only entrances on 34th and 33rd Streets along with a new concierge desk for office tenants and visitors, a new messenger center with uniformed door-to-door delivery service, new retail signage and tenant repositioning, and upgrades to the building's systems. New pre-builts, consolidated suites, bathrooms and air-conditioned public corridors are also part of the improvements.

Furthermore, all 65 marble elevator cabs have been refurbished with imported Italian marble, and the property's 6,500 windows have been replaced, making the building far more energy efficient and earning it a coveted "Energy Star" designation from the EPA and the U.S. Department of Energy.

A special autumn event celebrating the Empire State ReBuilding attracted more than
175 of the city's top brokers, including five raffle winners who each received a pair
of tickets to the opening night of the hit Broadway show Young Frankenstein.
Pictured above are (left to right) Tony Malkin of W&H, Mary Ann Tighe of
CB Richard Ellis, Mitchell Rudin of CB Richard Ellis, raffle winners Randi Starer,
Cory Albrycht of GVA Williams, Richard Price of Winoker Realty, Mark Lauzon of
Cushman & Wakefield and Peter Goldich of ATCO; Stephen Eynon of CB Richard
Ellis and Harold Meriam of Helmsley Enterprises.

Our space consolidation program, successfully implemented at 250 West 57th Street and 60 East 42nd Street, is reducing the number of office suites, making room for new full floor and partial floor availabilities. In addition, the successful W&H pre-built program has started here and has proved to be as successful as it has been in the other W&H buildings. All of our pre-builts contain new ceilings, lighting, and flooring and highly efficient space layouts.

Prestigious firms and their brokers have taken note of the Empire State Building's massive transformation. Consequently, the property is attracting more and more prominent tenants, who are snapping up large-block availabilities. Examples include Taylor Global Communications' lease of the entire 38th floor, Brennan Beer Gorman Architects' lease of the entire 25th floor, Lufthansa's relocation of its North American headquarters from 680 Fifth Avenue to part of the 27th floor, and Block Holding Corporation's lease of 22,153 square feet on the 11th floor, which doubled the firm's occupancy.

Tim Clancy, the new
director of operations
at the Empire State
Building,is helping to
implement the rebuilding
program.

In regard to retail, we're delighted that Starbucks has leased 8,400 square feet for a three-story store on the 34th Street side of the building. This particular Starbucks will be the largest in the city.

There's also good news for brokers: As with all W&H properties, leasing processes are standardized, commissions are paid 100% on lease signing and no appointment is ever needed. A recently completed marketing suite on the 43rd floor is available for visits at any time.

"The scale and scope of the Empire State ReBuilding is tremendous," says Anthony E. Malkin of W&H. "It is consistent with the top-to-bottom transformations are happening or have already been completed at all nine of W&H's Pre-War Trophy towers. The challenge at ESB has been the sheer scope of the project. Once you understand that there is nothing small about this building, you'll understand why we're so proud to be raising it to the same stature as the balance of the W&H portfolio."