HISTORY OF THE EMPIRE STATE BUILDING : A FINANCIAL FLOP FOR NEARLY 20 YEARS QUICKLIQUIDITY
The Empire State Building was completed in May of 1931 and became the world ’ s tallest building , a title it would hold for nearly 40 years until the World Trade Center was completed in 1970 . While successful in beating the Chrysler Building in height , the Empire State Building was far from being the success Raskob had hoped .
The Empire State Building was stymied from the start due to the onset of the Great Depression a few years prior . The Great Depression brought the United States economy to it ’ s knees . The stock market collapsed , nearly half of the US banks had failed , and at its height unemployment sat at 25 % with over 13 million Americans looking for work . In only three years the average income of American families plummeted by 40 %. While the Empire State Building gave New York City a sense of pride which it desperately needed , it also contributed to Manhattan ’ s 92 % increase of inventory for office space during the Great Depression ².
One year after it ’ s opening , the Empire State Building had an occupancy of only 25 % and remained that way for most of the 30 ’ s , earning it the nickname the “ Empty State Building .” At times , workers were told to turn on lights on the higher floors to create the illusion that they were occupied ³. Finding tenants for the building was harder than expected . In addition to the obstacles created by the Great Depression , vacancies were worsened by the buildings relatively long distance from public transportation hubs in the city , such as Grand Central Terminal , Penn Station , and the Port Authority Bus Terminal . Successful buildings , such as the Chrysler Building , did not have this problem⁴ . The Empire State Building did not become profitable for nearly 20 years until after World War II when companies flooded Manhattan and space became scarce⁵ .