<P> Excavation of the site began on January 22, 1930, and construction on the building itself started on March 17--St. Patrick's Day--per Al Smith's influence as Empire State, Inc. president . The project involved 3,400 workers, mostly immigrants from Europe, along with hundreds of Mohawk iron workers, many from the Kahnawake reserve near Montreal . According to official accounts, five workers died during the construction . Governor Smith's grandchildren cut the ribbon on May 1, 1931 . Lewis Wickes Hine's photography of the construction provides not only invaluable documentation of the construction, but also a glimpse into common day life of workers in that era . </P> <P> The construction was part of an intense competition in New York for the title of "world's tallest building". Two other projects fighting for the title, 40 Wall Street and the Chrysler Building, were still under construction when work began on the Empire State Building . Each held the title for less than a year, as the Empire State Building surpassed them upon its completion, on April 11, 1931, 12 days ahead of schedule, just 410 days after construction commenced . The building was officially opened on May 1, 1931 in dramatic fashion, when United States President Herbert Hoover turned on the building's lights with the push of a button from Washington, D.C. Ironically, the first use of tower lights atop the Empire State Building, the following year, was for the purpose of signaling the victory of Franklin D. Roosevelt over Hoover in the presidential election of November 1932 . </P> <P> The building's opening coincided with the Great Depression in the United States, and as a result much of its office space was initially unrented . The building's vacancy was exacerbated by its poor location on 34th Street, which placed it relatively far from public transportation, as Grand Central Terminal and Penn Station, built decades beforehand, are several blocks away, as is the more recently built Port Authority Bus Terminal . Other more successful skyscrapers, such as the Chrysler Building, did not have this problem . In its first year of operation, the observation deck took in approximately 2 million dollars, as much money as its owners made in rent that year . The lack of renters led New Yorkers to deride the building as the "Empty State Building". </P> <P> The Empire State Building only became profitable in 1950 . It was purchased in 1951 for $50 million by Roger L. Stevens and his business partners Henry Crown, Alfred R. Glancy and Ben Tobin . The sale was brokered by the prominent upper Manhattan real estate firm Charles F. Noyes & Company for $51 million, the highest price paid for a single structure at the time . Crown bought out his partners' ownership stakes in 1954 and was the sole owner until 1961 . That year, the building was bought by Harry B. Helmsley, Lawrence A. Wien, and Wien's son - in - law Peter L. Malkin . 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, that subletted the building to another company headed by Helmsley and Wein, raising $33 million of the funds used to pay for the change of ownership . The land itself was sold to Prudential Insurance for $29 million . </P>

Who works at the top of the empire state building