Look out, King Kong! By at least one major metric, One Vanderbilt’s Summit has overtaken the Empire State Building Observatory’s 95-year reign as king of the city’s sky-high viewing decks.
Summit, just five years old, brought in more dough in the first half of this year than the iconic Empire State decks for the first time, according to filings by the buildings’ publicly traded owners.
Summit’s $55.651 million operating revenue for the first six months of 2026 topped last year’s $53.541 million over the same period. The 3.9% increase was tucked into landlord SL Green’s supplement to its second-quarter earnings report.
In comparison, Empire State Observatory revenue for the first half of 2026 plunged to $42.7 million from $57 million in the first half of 2025, according to Empire State Realty Trust’s second-quarter earnings report.
“In fact, Summit revenue exceeded the Empire State Observatory in the fourth quarter of 2025 as well as in 2026 to date,” Manhattan-based Bank of Montreal analyst John P. Kim noted.
The shocking change of fortune came as Manhattan observation decks face more competition — there are a half-dozen today, compared with only two after 9/11. Moreover, the number of international travelers to the Big Apple — who comprise a large part of their business — has fallen by 8% since the pandemic.
Privately held companies own four of Manhattan’s observation decks — Tishman Speyer’s Top of the Rock, Related’s Edge, the Port Authority and Durst’s One World Observatory and Jamestown’s just-opened Times Square Skywalk — and aren’t required to divulge financial results.
There’s also the city’s newly opened, 36th-floor Centre 360 atop the Municipal Building at 1 Centre St. — and it’s free, although tickets must be booked well in advance.
“It’s the last thing that the pricey ones need,” a source said of the publicly funded competition.
Kim, whose office overlooks the Skywalk, said: “The observatory pie is growing, but it’s affecting the Empire State Building the most.”
He added that in the intensified struggle for visitors, “Everyone offers something new and different.”
There are “immersive” light-and-video installations, time-travel simulations and kaleidoscopic displays to entertain visitors en route to the observatories.
Summit is on One Vanderbilt’s 97th to 99th floors, while Empire State has viewing platforms on the 86th and 102nd floors.
The latter have appeared in scores of movies, including “An Affair to Remember,” “The Producers,” “Sleepless in Seattle” and even “The Muppets Take Manhattan.”
The numbers of visitors can’t be extrapolated from revenue, because crazy-quilt admission prices vary wildly depending on which options customers choose. At Top of the Rock, for example, the cheapest ticket is $42 and the most expensive, for a “VIP pass,” is $185, with options in between.
Revenue is not the same as net operating income, which is also a function of expenses, taxes and other factors. But Empire State Observatory’s net operating income plunged $12.4 million in the second quarter compared to $24.2 million the previous year, while the number of visitors fell 28% year-over-year.
Chief Executive Tony Malkin told investors his company began “a total re-evaluation of our observatory business model and execution early in the first quarter.” That could mean less reliance on third-party sightseeing passes that bundle discounted admissions.
The setback caused Empire State Realty Trust to write down $166 million in value attached to the observatory, which astonishingly accounts for nearly 25% of net operating income for the company’s entire, nearly 9 million square-foot office portfolio. (In comparison, SL Green holds interests in over 30 million square feet of properties).
The Empire State Observatory’s plight stands in contrast to the skyscraper’s 2.8 million square feet of offices, which are more than 96% leased at high rents. Powerhouse talent agency UTA recently signed for over 100,000 square feet, as The Post first reported.
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