Empire State Building In a separate transaction, the land underneath the building was sold to Prudential Insurance for $29 million. Helmsley, Wein, and Malkin quickly started a program of minor improvement projects, including the first-ever full-building facade refurbishment and window-washing in 1962, the installation of new flood lights on the 72nd floor in 1964, and replacement of the manually operated elevators with automatic units in 1966. The little-used western end of the second floor was used as a storage space until 1964, at which point it received escalators to the first floor as part of its conversion into a highly-sought retail area. In
Empire State Building 110 stories, taller than the Empire State. Opponents of the new project included prominent real-estate developer Robert Tishman, as well as Wien's Committee for a Reasonable World Trade Center. In response to Wein's opposition, Port Authority executive director Austin J. Tobin said that Wein was only opposing the project because it would overshadow his Empire State Building as the world's tallest building. The World Trade Center's twin towers started construction in 1966. The following year, the Ostankino Tower succeeded the Empire State Building as the tallest freestanding structure in the world. In 1970, the Empire State surrendered its position as