On the Empire State Building’s 86th-floor observation deck, Emma England and fiancé Martin Rawsthorne, visiting New York for the first time from greater Manchester, England, were among those braving subzero temperatures to take in the building’s sweeping — and romantic — skyline views. They said the breathtaking experience didn’t disappoint.
“It’s been in so many films,” England, 37, told CoStar News. “When you come to New York, it’s one of the things you’ve got to do. … I’ve never seen so many lights before. It’s beautiful.”
While she treasures Rawsthorne’s proposal-with-a-view in a private compartment atop the London Eye about four years ago, she said on her visit this week she would have been “over the moon” if the proposal had happened on the Empire State Building’s deck. She's not the only one, and it shows why high-altitude sites compete on Valentine’s Day as tower owners diversify their revenue.
SL Green’s Summit observatory at its One Vanderbilt tower, a trophy building opened during the pandemic, has been such a success that it’s prompting Manhattan’s largest office landlord to pursue international expansion, including a planned Paris location. The Empire State Building also faces competition from Edge at Hudson Yards and One World Observatory in Lower Manhattan, both of which offer Valentine’s Day experiences. And Tishman Speyer’s Top of the Rock at Rockefeller Center is marketing itself as a similarly romantic destination.
But the Empire State Building, using every advantage at its disposal as a cultural icon, shows just how seriously these buildings can take the matter of love.
Ahead of Valentine’s Day, the famed Manhattan art deco landmark — built in 1931 and offering views from the open-air deck or behind the floor‑to‑ceiling glass on the 102nd floor — rolled out a slate of themed ticket offerings, including screenings of “Sleepless in Seattle,” the 1993 romantic comedy that immortalized the building as a cinematic symbol of love. Tickets for the Feb. 14 showings are sold out, the observatory’s website said.
Other packages include paint‑and‑pour events marketed as a chance to “paint, sip and fall in love at the Empire State Building.” At the high end, the observatory is offering a $14,000 private dinner for two on the 102nd floor after the deck closes to the public on Valentine’s Day.
Place to pop the question
Beyond the holiday, the observatory introduced its “Happily Ever Empire” proposal package in 2021, priced at $1,000 per couple. But proposals were taking place even before the company’s official participation. For instance, Disney Channel star Ashley Tisdale and Jenni “JWoww” Farley, who gained fame on reality TV show “Jersey Shore,” have each publicly shared their engagements at the site.
The package was created “in response to overwhelming demand from couples who wanted to mark one of life’s biggest moments at the ‘World’s Most Famous Building,’” a spokeswoman for tower owner Empire State Realty Trust told CoStar News. Proposals occur “regularly on the observatory,” she said, declining to disclose how many packages have been sold.
Each proposal is coordinated individually, with no permanent installations or dedicated build‑out, she said. The goal, the spokeswoman said, is to offer a personalized experience “while preserving the open-air experience for all guests.”
As for England, she said the public nature of a proposal wouldn’t have bothered her.
“If everybody around saw it happening, they’d all be happy and excited for” the couple, she said. “I would be. … I love seeing proposals in real life and online.”
The romance push comes as New York’s observatory market has experienced a resurgence more than 90 years after the Empire State Building proved there was mass appeal in a sky-high observatory as a tourist attraction.
To stay competitive, the Empire State Building has undergone a $165 million overhaul, adding a nine‑gallery interactive museum, redesigned host uniforms and a reimagined 102nd-floor experience. The investment reflects the observatory’s financial importance: Empire State Realty Trust said the attraction accounted for 25% of the real estate investment trust’s net operating income in 2024. It lists “selling tickets to the observatory” as a key corporate priority.
“Because it generates revenue from ticket sales as opposed to leases, it can be more volatile than the rest of the portfolio and is impacted by tourism and other macro trends,” JPMorgan analyst Anthony Paolone wrote in a report last month.
‘Observatory remains resilient’
Those pressures have become more pronounced as international visitation — once roughly two‑thirds of the observatory’s audience pre‑pandemic — has slipped to about half, he said. Still, the analyst said the REIT has “been successful at putting in place dynamic pricing based on time of day,” such as charging higher average ticket prices during popular sunset hours, to help offset the shortfall in the visitor count.
“The observatory remains resilient,” Empire State Realty Trust CEO Anthony Malkin said on the company’s third-quarter earnings call. “Revenue per capita continued to increase … in the face of reduced budget traveler visitation.”
Bad weather in the first half of last year also weighed on results, according to the company.
Despite those headwinds, REIT President Christina Chiu has told investors the observatory “remains a positive contributor to cash flow and earnings” and is “structurally advantaged” within the portfolio. “Long-term fundamentals of this business continue to stand out,” she said,
Also, Chiu said, the company is focused on “the enhancement of our guest experience, the execution of targeted marketing campaigns and driving operational efficiency.”
Jared Koeck, associate director of market analytics at CoStar, said the near‑century‑old building offers something newer trophy towers can’t replicate.
“It’s a New York City icon,” he said, noting that the building itself remains a strong office asset, with a vacancy rate of 7.1% — well below the Manhattan average of 13.5%. LinkedIn is the building’s largest office tenant.
That distinction as an icon resonates with visitors. When Koeck hosted his father‑in‑law on a first trip to New York, he suggested newer observation decks Edge at 30 Hudson Yards or Summit at One Vanderbilt as options.
“But for my father-in-law, it was no choice at all,” Koeck said. “If you’re in New York for one day, you go to the Empire State Building.”