At the Empire State Building, there is no such thing as a 'small lease.'

The Empire State Building is on pace for a record year of leasing in 1996, and it has achieved it by thinking small, as well as large.

So far this year, the Building's leasing team has leased 225,000 square feet in 91 new leases and 30,000 square feet in renewal leases, up 300 percent from 1995.

"We've had three large leases totaling over 100,000 square feet," explains Stephen A. Tole, vice president of Helmsley-Spear, Inc. and General Manager and Director of Leasing at the Empire State Building. "But smaller leases are also extremely important to the Building. Fifty separate leases, each less than 2,500 square feet, have closed in 1996."

"There are many reasons why small businesses have always found the Empire State Building most attractive," adds Thomas P. Sullivan, assistant general manager of the Empire State Building. "Because of the distinctive tower design of the building, no office space is more than 24 feet from a window. In other large Midtown office buildings, that distance can be around 60 feet. And there are 6,379 windows in the Empire State Building!"

Additionally, small businesses can have the prestige of the Empire State Building address for extremely competitive prices. The Building is so well-known that letters arrive every day, addressed only to "The Empire State Building," without street address, city, state, zip code, or country. Every once in a while, even King Kong still gets mail there!

From its original opening in 1931, the Empire State Building has been tenanted primarily by companies that require small spaces. Today, the building has more than 800 companies as tenants in its 2.5 million square feet, and no tenant occupies as much as 5 percent of the building. As a result, the building maintained high occupancy during the recent recession because it does not rely on one tenant or industry to fill the bulk of its space. Most tenants, especially those in international trade, approach the building on their own.

"The Empire State Building has 102 floors, but that may not be enough to accommodate all the tenants that have been clamoring to lease space here," said Tale. "We have put together over 300 leases in the last two years and we have many new leases pending."

Leasing brokers know that the Empire State Building is nearing completion of its six-year, $65 million capital improvement program that has completely prepared the world-famous landmark for the 21st century, with state-of-the-art electronics and communications; new security and fire alarm systems; a new central air conditioning plant; 1,200-feet-per-minute computerized elevators; a restored limestone facade; and 6,379 new thermopane windows with frames that duplicate the originals, including their red color.

The Empire State Building leasing team cooperates very effectively with outside brokers and pays full commissions upon the signing of leases.