It will be a huge job as Otis upgrades the elevators and replaces 13-ton machines while thousands of workers, tourists and others enter and leave the building each day.
The new elevators are expected to move passengers quickly and efficiently to make the prized address even more attractive to tenants who also are benefiting from upgraded lighting, heating and cooling and other systems.
The Empire State Building calls it the largest elevator modernization of its kind in the world. Otis, a United Technologies Corp. subsidiary in Farmington, Conn., says it's the biggest in its 158-year history.
They did not disclose how much the contract is worth.
