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August 24, 2020: Last year, 3.5 million tourists visited the observation deck of the Empire State Building, generating $32.9 million in the second quarter of the year. This year, due to the pandemic and lockdowns, tourist revenue fell to just $86,000–a decline of $32.8 million.[1]
According to The Wall Street Journal, New York’s most famous skyscraper “has come to reflect much of what ails the city and its commercial real estate” during the pandemic. In addition to the loss of tourism, “The iconic tower looks vulnerable to losing office tenants as more companies embrace remote work or cheaper satellite offices outside city centers.”[1]
Recent news articles have suggested that the pandemic may mean the end of New York as we know it.[2][3]
Early in the lockdown, I wrote as someone who lived in and loved the city. But I wrote that the greatest city in the world “has instantly become a city of the past, a city that thrived in an era that is rapidly coming to an end.”[4] Since then, like many others, we have moved out of the city.[5]
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