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 The following year, the American Society of Civil Engineers named the building one of the "Seven Modern Civil Engineering Wonders". In 1961, a group headed by Harry B. Helmsley, Lawrence A. Wien, and Wien's son-in-law Peter L. Malkin gained control of the building for $65 million, which became the new highest price for a single structure. Over 3,000 people paid $10,000 for one share each in a company called Empire State Building Associates. The company in turn subleased the building to another company headed by Helmsley and Wein, raising $33 million of the funds needed to pay the purchase price.