Notes on skyscraper vs. nation-state economies

 

Subject: Empire State Building

Built in 1931.

Pinnacle floodlights.

6,500 windows.

73 elevators.

1,860 steps.

Weighs approximately 370,000 short tons or 340k tons.

Base: 295 ft x 295 ft = 87,025 square feet, or just under 2 acres.

1 metre = 3.2808399 feet.

so 87,025 square feet = about 26,525 square metres. or 163m x 163m.

Total floorspace: 63.55 acres on 2 acres. About 32 square acres of floorspace per square acre of land.

Roof height: 1,250 feet.

Top floor: 1,224 feet.

 Floor area. 2,768,591 square feet (rentable).

Cost to build: $40,948,900

Cost to build per square foot of rentable area: $14.79/sq. ft.

2008 Rent rate at the Empire State Building starts at $57.00/sq. ft.

Total 2008 annual income based on lowest rental rate, per rentable area: $157,809,687.

That's one hundred and fifty eight million United States dollars per year in rental income for one New York City building alone. There are hundreds of buildings just like this one.

Billions of dollars in rental income in one major city alone.

Not that this is a bad thing.

In context.



Entire New York City microeconomies, dozens of them, no doubt, exist based solely on one single $158,000,000 GDP/year building.

One skyscraper is a city of its own. A country. It has an annual gross domestic product comparable to whole nation-states.







Kiribati, for example, one of the smallest officially recognized nation-states (pictured below) on the planet has a nominal annual GDP of $152 million USD.

Palau, a small island nation (below) originally featured on the television series Survivor, has a nominal annual GDP of $164 million USD.

Kinda makes you think.