Editing Empire State Building (section)

===Loss of "tallest building" title===
[[File:World Trade Center, New York City - aerial view (March 2001).jpg|thumb|left|upright|alt=The World Trade Center as seen from the air|The [[World Trade Center (1973–2001)|World Trade Center]]'s North Tower surpassed the Empire State Building in height by 1970.<ref name="The New York Times 1970">{{cite web |date=October 20, 1970 |title=World Trade Center Becomes World's Highest Building By 4 Feet |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/10/20/archives/world-trade-center-becomes-worlds-highest-building-by-4-feet.html |access-date=October 26, 2017 |website=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=October 26, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171026164356/http://www.nytimes.com/1970/10/20/archives/world-trade-center-becomes-worlds-highest-building-by-4-feet.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="The New York Times 1970a">{{cite web |date=December 24, 1970 |title=Trade Center 'Topped Out' With Steel Column 1,370 Feet Above Street |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/12/24/archives/trade-center-topped-out-with-steel-column-1370-feet-above-street.html |access-date=October 26, 2017 |website=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=October 26, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171026213534/http://www.nytimes.com/1970/12/24/archives/trade-center-topped-out-with-steel-column-1370-feet-above-street.html |url-status=live }}</ref>]]

In 1961, the same year that Helmsley, Wien, and Malkin had purchased the Empire State Building, the [[Port Authority of New York and New Jersey]] formally backed plans for a new [[World Trade Center (1973–2001)|World Trade Center]] in [[Lower Manhattan]].<ref>{{cite news |date=March 12, 1961 |title=355 Million World Trade Center Backed by Port Authority Study; 355 Million World Trade Center Backed by Port Authority Study |work=The New York Times |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1961/03/12/100239808.pdf |access-date=October 26, 2017 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=January 26, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200126151750/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1961/03/12/100239808.html?pdf_redirect=true&site=false |url-status=live }}</ref> The plan originally included 66-story twin towers with column-free open spaces. The Empire State's owners and real estate speculators were worried that the twin towers' {{convert|7.6|e6ft2|m2}} of office space would create a glut of rentable space in Manhattan as well as take away the Empire State Building's profits from lessees.{{sfn|Tauranac|2014|pp=353–354}} A revision in the World Trade Center's plan brought the twin towers to {{convert|1370|ft|m}} each or 110 stories, taller than the Empire State.{{sfn|Tauranac|2014|p=354}} Opponents of the new project included prominent real-estate developer [[Robert Tishman]], as well as Wien's Committee for a Reasonable World Trade Center.{{sfn|Tauranac|2014|p=354}} In response to Wien's opposition, Port Authority executive director [[Austin J. Tobin]] said that Wien was only opposing the project because it would overshadow his Empire State Building as the world's tallest building.<ref>{{cite web |last=Ennis |first=Thomas W. |date=February 15, 1964 |title=Critics Impugned On Trade Center |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/02/15/cr-tics-impugned-on-trade-center.html |access-date=October 26, 2017 |website=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=October 27, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171027074800/http://www.nytimes.com/1964/02/15/cr-tics-impugned-on-trade-center.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

The World Trade Center's twin towers started [[Construction of the World Trade Center|construction]] in 1966.<ref>{{cite news |date=August 6, 1966 |title=Jackhammers Bite Pavement to Start Trade Center Job |work=The New York Times |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1966/08/06/82504559.pdf |access-date=October 26, 2017 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 3, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180303144625/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1966/08/06/82504559.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> The following year, the [[Ostankino Tower]] succeeded the Empire State Building as the [[List of tallest freestanding structures|tallest freestanding structure in the world]].<ref name="CBS News 2012" /> In 1970, the Empire State surrendered its position as the world's tallest building,{{sfn|Berman|Museum of New York City|2003|pp=105–106}} when the World Trade Center's still-under-construction North Tower surpassed it, on October 19;<ref name="The New York Times 1970" /><ref name="The New York Times 1970a" /> the North Tower was [[topping out|topped out]] on December 23, 1970.<ref name="The New York Times 1970a" /><ref>{{cite web |title=Timeline: World Trade Center Chronology |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/newyork/timeline/index.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070502225357/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/newyork/timeline/index.html |archive-date=May 2, 2007 |access-date=May 15, 2007 |publisher=PBS – American Experience }}</ref>

In December 1975, the observation deck was opened on the 110th floor of the Twin Towers, significantly higher than the 86th floor observatory on the Empire State Building.<ref name="Bartlett 1976" /> The latter was also losing revenue during this period, particularly as a number of broadcast stations had moved to the World Trade Center in 1971; although the Port Authority continued to pay the broadcasting leases for the Empire State until 1984.{{sfn|Tauranac|2014|pp=356–357}} The Empire State Building was still seen as prestigious, having seen its forty-millionth visitor in March 1971.{{sfn|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1981|p=18}}