With leasing wins, acquisitions, awards, and more, Empire State Realty Trust had much to celebrate in 2025.
See the highlights below!
January
WELCOME TO WILLIAMSBURG
ESRT celebrated its new retail presence in Williamsburg, Brooklyn with a special event for brokers at 89 N. 6th Street in early January.
February
ROOFTOP LOUNGE
A brand-new rooftop and lounge opened at ESRT’s 501 Seventh Avenue in early February. The space was the newest addition to ESRT’s rich amenity offerings throughout its Manhattan office portfolio.
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
TENANT TESTIMONIAL
March
DOING WELL
ESRT received the 2024 IWBI Health-Safety Leadership Award for prioritization of occupant health and well-being through industry-leading indoor environmental quality measures and achievement of the WELL Health-Safety Rating across 100% of the portfolio in each year of participation since 2020.
STILL A GREAT PLACE
ESRT announced that it maintained its status as a Certified Great Place to Work for the third year in a row! ESRT’s overall Great Place to Work survey favorability of 86% is consistent with 2024, and 90% of colleagues say that the company is a Great Place to Work.
April
SUSTAINABILITY 2024
ESRT published its annual Sustainability Report that highlights the company’s continued, proven leadership in environmental sustainability with exceptional achievements, targets, and progress against goals for emissions and energy reduction, water, waste, and indoor environmental quality as well as social governance and execution.
TENANT LIGHTING
ESRT tenant Progyny lit the Empire State Building to honor National Infertility Awareness Week on April 21. CEO Pete Anevsky joined influencers The Pasini Family to flip the switch in a lighting ceremony.
May
“WORLD’S BUSIEST”
Daily Mail Business featured the Empire State Building in an episode of their “World’s Busiest Buildings” series in May. The episode explores ESB’s industry-leading modernization, unparalleled tenant landscape, world-famous Observatory, and iconic tower lights.
June
COLLEAGUE CELEBRATION
On June 5, ESRT hosted colleagues at the Monarch Rooftop for its annual Summer Appreciation Celebration to thank all ESRT employees for their hard work and dedication.
WHAT FRED SAID
On June 24, Commercial Observer held the National Retail and Hospitality Forum that featured experts from all areas of commercial real estate. ESRT’s SVP, Leasing Fred Posniak joined the “Meeting Consumer Demand: How Retail Brands are Adapting & Innovating in Today’s Market” panel discussion, to share insights into the future of New York City retail.
July
LEASING EMPIRE
ESRT signed two new leases at the “World’s Most Famous Building,” which included Mott MacDonald – an engineering, development, and management consultancy – and law firm Elsberg Baker & Maruri PLLC for a total of 64,609 square feet.
August
ONWARD AND UPWARD
In August, ESRT’s EVP, Real Estate Tom Durels announced that he would transition his role to new co-heads of real estate, EVP, Chief Operating Officer Jackie Renton and EVP, Chief Revenue Officer, Ryan Kass.
September
CLIMATE WEEK
NYSERDA President and CEO Doreen Harris, LinkedIn Director of Workplace Sustainability and Engineering Cristal Ortiz, Skanska SVP of Sustainability Myrrh Caplan, and ESRT’s SVP, Director of Energy and Sustainability joined a panel called “Empire State of Efficiency: Proven Strategies and Measured Results from Landlord, Tenant, and Construction Team Collaboration,” held in ESRT’s Empire Lounge.
October
NEW HIGH SCORE
To kick off the month, ESRT announced that it achieved the highest possible GRESB 5 Star Rating for the sixth consecutive year, and the highest management score for all 575 ranked companies in the Americas.
RING THE BELL
To honor the annual Empire State Building Run-Up, ESRT rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange to celebrate.
BRAND NEW CONCEPT
SORA signed a lease for a 14,430 square foot retail space at ESRT’s One Grand Central Place, which will feature five high-end dining concepts curated by top chefs selected from Japan’s highest-rated establishments, and one direct-from-Tokyo cocktail experience.
ONE YEAR IN THE CLUB
ESRT celebrated the ESB Club Level’s one year anniversary with a highly attended, full day event at the Empire Lounge. ESB’s Club Level – located just below its iconic lobby – features a tenant-only fitness center and houses the Empire Lounge, that holds a 400-person all hands space, a variety of comfortable seating areas, phone booths for private communication, a basketball/pickleball court, and “ESRTees,” two golf simulators.
NEXTGEN
In late October, ESRT was recognized as one of the first companies to achieve the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s ENERGY STAR NextGen certification, a new recognition that identifies the nation’s most energy efficient buildings.
November
EXPANSION & EXTENSION
Financial services consulting company GLG signed an 18,230 square foot expansion lease at One Grand Central Place, to bring the firm’s total footprint to 95,612 square feet at the building.
STRUT YOUR STUFFING
ESRT colleagues participated in the fourth annual ESRT Turkey Trot 5k on Nov. 20. Trotters celebrated their participation with Thanksgiving food and drinks at Gratitude Thursday.
December
WELCOME SCHOLASTIC
In early December, ESRT announced that it acquired the Scholastic Building, which is comprised of approximately 368,000 square feet of office and 28,000 square feet of prime retail in the heart of SoHo.
NEW SHOES
ESRT announced that it signed two new retail leases with HOKA and Tecovas for a total of 8,322 square feet to join ESRT’s North Sixth Street Collection in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
INDUSTRY LEED-ER
The Empire State Building achieved Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum certification under the Existing Buildings: Operations + Maintenance Version 5 program, the highest level of recognition under the U.S. Green Building Council’s latest standard. The Empire State Building is the largest LEED v5 Platinum project in the United States and the first in the state of New York to earn this recognition.
Cheers to 2026!
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