Empire State Realty Trust ended the third quarter with higher office occupancy and leasing, while revenue from the Empire State Building Observatory declined from a year earlier. The New York-based landlord reported the figures in an earnings exhibit filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The mixed picture separates the performance of its commercial properties from a visitor business that remains exposed to tourism trends.

Office occupancy reached 91.9 percent on September 30, up from 89.7 percent a year earlier. The office portfolio was 95.5 percent leased, which includes signed leases that had not yet begun, compared with 92.4 percent the prior year. That gap between leased and occupied space matters: it indicates future tenants in the pipeline, but their rent and building use may not start until construction, move-in or contractual dates are completed.

The company signed 21 office leases covering 170,608 square feet during the quarter. New and renewal office deals produced an average cash rent of $73.12 per square foot, and the company calculated a 9.9 percent blended increase over the prior escalated rent for the same space. New leases carried a positive spread, while renewal office leases were below the prior rent on the company's stated measure.

The Observatory moved in the other direction. Third-quarter revenue was $26.8 million, down from $36.0 million in the 2025 quarter, according to the filing's operating statement. The attraction generated $15.6 million of net operating income. Management kept its full-year framework of $55 million in Observatory net operating income and described visitation as weak, making attendance one of the clearer uncertainties in the company's outlook.

Across the company, third-quarter revenue totaled $193.1 million, compared with $197.7 million a year earlier. Rental revenue rose to $162.0 million from $158.4 million, but the Observatory decline more than offset that gain at the top line. Net income per diluted share was two cents, and core funds from operations was 20 cents per diluted share. Core FFO is a non-GAAP real-estate measure and should be read with the company's reconciliation rather than treated as net income.

Capital allocation also reshaped the portfolio. After quarter-end, the trust completed the sale of 1359 Broadway for $217.5 million. It said proceeds would support share repurchases and debt reduction, with land purchases at 111 West 33rd Street and 1400 Broadway used as a partial replacement asset for tax purposes. Since its second-quarter call through November 2, the company reported buying back $85.8 million of stock at a weighted average of $4.56 a share.

The balance sheet carried about $2.2 billion of debt at a weighted average interest rate of 4.78 percent and roughly $605 million of liquidity, including cash and revolving-credit availability. The company said it had no unaddressed debt maturity before March 2029. Those figures provide context for the property sale and buybacks: returning capital can support per-share metrics, while debt service and refinancing remain important constraints for a leveraged landlord.

The filing offers evidence of improved office use within this specific portfolio, not a complete verdict on Manhattan real estate. The trust excludes certain redevelopment and recently acquired space from some occupancy calculations, and its buildings differ from the broader market. Still, rising occupancy, positive new-lease spreads and weaker tourism revenue show two distinct New York recoveries moving at different speeds inside the same company. The disclosure is a company snapshot, not a market-wide index.

Primary sources: Empire State Realty Trust third-quarter filing at the SEC. Reviewed November 5, 2026. Development: Results filed November 2, 2026.