The Empire State Building makes more money from selling tickets to its observation decks on the 86th and 102nd floors than from renting 100 floors containing 2.6 million sq ft of office space.

According to details prepared for the proposed initial public offering of Empire State Realty Trust, the skyscraper earned $62.9 million from its observation deck in nine months last year, compared with $62.6 million from the rental of office space.

The prospectus also details some of the risks that investors should take into account, such as a warning that observation deck revenue could fall after the opening of a rival deck at the new World Trade Centre building. Terrorism is mentioned as a possible threat, but there is no reference in the risks