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Remember Jeb Corliss? The daredevil that dared attempt to jump off the Empire State Building back in 2006 is back in the papers, with word that the $12 million lawsuit the landmark building filed against him is about to be settled. According to the NY Post, the civil case was closed last week, and Corliss's lawyer Mark Jay Heller says a confidential deal was reached... though building owners say it's not finalized (until next week sometime). more ›

It's been said that every New York City conversation eventually turns to real estate, and this real estate opportunity might just start the conversation to drown out all the others. The New York Times reports that the Malkin family, who own the Empire State Building, will be creating a publicly traded real estate company. Meaning one day you could very indirectly own a piece of the Empire State Building. It's the most expensive lightning rod you'll ever buy. more ›

For the past 17 years, a handful of lucky couples get married atop the Empire State Building on Valentine's Day—and those couples all get lifetime anniversary passes to the building. But you better put the "lifetime" in quotation marks, as one couple discovered on Monday. more ›

These people bring the idea of taking the stairs to a whole new level every year. It's that time again, the 35th Annual Run-Up at the Empire State Building—where tomorrow people more in shape than us will run up 1,576 stairs... for "fun," or whatever. Last year 300 runners participated, with the winner crossing the 86th floor finish line in just 10 minutes and 16 seconds; the record time, set in 2003, is 9 minutes and 33 seconds. So tomorrow, at least try to get up all of the subway stairs in that amount of time. more ›

Mother Teresa may have died nearly 13 years ago, but her legacy lives on, even if the Empire State Building wouldn't shine its lights in blue and white for her last night. But hundreds of protesters still think the iconic building's owner, Anthony Malkin, was wrong to dismiss the request. The Catholic League's William Donohue, who raised a ruckus about this "slight" in June, said, "Why not Mother Teresa? If [she] doesn't make the cut, nobody [does]," and referring to the ESB's claim that religious figures aren't honored that way, "They've done it in the past for religious figures. They did it for the Salesian Sisters last year, they've done it for Pope John Paul II, they've done it for Cardinal O'Connor. That's a lie." more ›

Is Anthony Malkin wondering why his building has been plagued by bed bugs and skyline competition? According to the Daily News, the drama can be chalked up to the "Curse of the Mama." That's right, by refusing to light the top of the Empire State Building on Thursday in honor of Mother Teresa's 100th birthday, the building and its owner were punished with bed bugs and real estate developments. But Malkin isn't backing down; he now says the building will be lit up red, white and blue in honor of the anniversary of women's suffrage. Take that, nun ghosts! more ›

Did you know that the 103rd floor of the Empire State Building is not open to the public, but is open to celebrities? The space is very small, with a thin walkway going around it and hardly any barrier separating you from the thin air. The barrier only comes up to one's knees, if that. Yesterday our intrepid photographer Katie Sokoler braved the vertigo-inducing space during a VIP tour of the iconic building... and you won't see photos like this anywhere else, because most of the other press people were too scared to go outside to experience, or document it! For those who want to get a similar view, we're told for some extra cash the general public can visit the 102nd floor, which is closed in and significantly less scary. more ›

It's been over four years since daredevil Jeb Corliss attempted to parachute off the Empire State Building. Last year he was sentenced to three years of probation and 100 hours of community service, and yesterday a ruling was made public that has banned him from the landmark for life! more ›

You know, instead of running around blaming BP, maybe everyone should just take a deep breath and remember that BP didn't intend to cause the worst oil spill in history. As Mayor Bloomberg pointed out in his weekly radio address this morning, "The guy that runs BP didn't exactly go down there and blow up the well." So he says it's a little premature that "we're going after the heads of some of these companies... If you want him to fix it and they're the only ones with the expertise, I think I might wait to look, assign blame. There's got to be somebody that's culpable in everything. C'mon." In other words, if we all tried being a little nicer to BP, maybe they'd plug the damn leak. more ›

Mayor Bloomberg is defending the "Event Horizon" public art project that has recently led to unnecessary 911 calls. The outdoor installation features cast iron statues of human figures, bolted to the ledges of buildings—like the Empire State Building, where just last month a man jumped to his death. more ›

Remember when the Madison Square Park Conservancy was all: these statues of life-size men bolted to ledges of tall buildings in midtown won't cause panic amongst the masses below? Well the public art installation is proving to do just that. more ›

A young man in his 20s leapt to his death tonight from the observation deck of the Empire State Building. According to the Daily News, he took a running leap at 6:15 p.m. from the 86th floor, "clearing a fence and then the building's outermost ledge." more ›

The first of fourteen weddings to happen at the Empire State Building this Valentine's weekend went down this morning. They tell us this was the "first ever wedding at the Empire State Building’s 86th floor Observatory," though this is the 16th year the Knot has been holding their weekend-long event. Previous weddings, and the rest of this weekend's, are held on the 61st floor. more ›

This morning the Empire State Building took some time to show off its newly renovated Art Deco Lobby and restored historic ceiling mural, with architect Frank Prial (who did the Grand Central restoration) on hand. This is all part of a $550 million historical renovation, the lobby taking about $12.5 million of that. The NY Times reports that the pricey touch up brought back to life "two shiny Art Deco murals that disappeared from view in the 1960s." more ›

The Empire State Building has been a lot of colors throughout the years, but it may become permanently green. NY1 reports that "Officials today unveiled a groundbreaking project to significantly reduce the building's energy consumption." This would include replacing 6,500 windows with new ones that would reduce the heat in the summer and reduce heat loss in the winter, and a new system would allow tenants to control their own temperatures. The project will cost about $20 million, but it will "cut energy use by 38 percent, which will save $4.4 million a year in energy costs"—Bloomberg hopes that other buildings will follow suit. The NY Times notes that the job will be underway come this summer. more ›

The Empire State Building is going couture! Well, sort of. From a press release about the 300 newly-uniformed employees:

As part of a $500 million renovation to restore the Empire State Building’s 1930’s glory, new Art Deco-inspired uniforms are rolling out for staff this summer to kick off the season in style. more ›

The Empire State Building will continue its tradition of equally supporting the Mets and Yankees (and whole-heartedly supporting Big City Rivalry) as the two teams enter the Subway Series.

Beginning on Friday, May 16, the north/south sides of the building will be lit in Yankees blue and white, while its east/west sides will be lit in Mets blue and orange. The team who wins the series will have its colors displayed on all four sides of the tower on Monday, May 19.