Inside the Empire State Building Retrofit: What Advisors Can Learn From ESRT’s Sustainability Leadership

Thank you to Dana Robbins Schneider and her team for an informative behind-the-scenes sustainability tour of the Empire State Building. It’s difficult to overstate the value of seeing this work up close. Few buildings better illustrate how historic assets can be transformed into high-performance real estate without sacrificing their identity or their economics.

For those working in sustainable real estate investing, the Empire State Building offers a rare, real-world demonstration of what long-term sustainability execution looks like in practice.

The Empire State Building (ESB) has already achieved a 51 percent reduction in energy use and continues progressing toward its goal of reducing operational emissions 80 percent by 2030. Those numbers matter, but what matters more is how they were achieved. This wasn’t a single upgrade. It was a systems-level rethink of how a nearly 100-year-old building operates. ESB is a case study to what is possible when ownership, engineering expertise, and committed long-term capital work together.

Our Vert Global Sustainable Real Estate Strategy has invested in Empire State Realty Trust (ESRT) since the strategy launched in 2017. We’ve followed their sustainability progress closely. Visiting the building in person offered a valuable layer in understanding the real financial and operational decision-making behind one of the most successful whole-building retrofits in the world.

Why the Empire State Building Tour Was Valuable for Advisors

Each year, Vert engages with every company in our real estate strategy. These annual touchpoints allow us to understand how sustainability is being implemented on the ground, not just on paper. They also give companies a meaningful view of Vert as an investor and the voices our capital represents.

Because of our longstanding relationship with ESRT and Dana Robbins Schneider, we were able to offer advisors access to parts of the building most people never see. 

For advisors who generally invest in real estate through public markets, this was a unique chance to connect their investment decisions to real-world outcomes.

A Blueprint for Large-Scale Retrofits

Dana’s presentation walked us step-by-step through the process a building owner undertakes to execute a comprehensive energy retrofit. It was an honest, detailed, and data-driven explanation of how a major retrofit moves from concept to engineering to financing to implementation.

Advisors saw how building owners:

• Prioritize projects that improve both performance and financial outcomes
• Use the capital stack to fund large-scale upgrades
• Evaluate payback periods, operating savings, and tenant comfort
• Translate capital and operational expenditures into emissions reductions, improved air quality, and long-term asset resilience

What becomes clear is that sustainability at this level isn’t an add-on. It’s an operational discipline. Done well, it improves efficiency, reduces risk, and strengthens long-term performance for owners and investors alike.

What ESRT’s Leadership Demonstrates About Sustainable Real Estate

One of the most compelling parts of the tour was hearing directly from ESRT’s leadership about how they manage sustainability in practice. Their work requires balancing historical preservation, cutting-edge technology, evolving regulation, and tenant expectations, all within the constraints of an iconic building.

The companies making real progress in sustainable real estate tend to share a few traits:

• Integrating sustainability into core operations.
• Thinking long-term about energy, comfort, and cost.
• Using data to evaluate retrofits and upgrades.
• Communicating transparently with investors about performance and goals.

This kind of operational leadership is central to Vert’s sustainability process and why ESRT has continued to be a strong fit for our strategy.

Why Investor Engagement Matters

During the tour, Dana emphasized something every advisor should hear. She said that publicly traded companies listen to investors. They pay attention to what shareholders care about and what long-term capital is asking them to prioritize.

She validated that investor communication does not disappear into a void. These messages reach the C-suite and the Board. Signals matter. Questions matter. Engagement matters.

For advisors, this is a powerful reminder. Even when investing through public markets, your capital has a voice. The companies you own take note of what investors ask for and what they support through their allocation decisions.

This is why Vert emphasizes ongoing engagement with portfolio companies. It strengthens relationships, encourages transparency, and supports better long-term alignment between investors and management teams. Most importantly, it has an impact.

What This Visit Means for Advisors and Investors

The Empire State Building visit offered an important perspective for advisors who want to help clients invest in sustainable real estate with greater clarity and confidence. 

Seeing the systems, equipment, leadership, and thinking behind a major retrofit makes sustainability tangible. It connects investment decisions to real outcomes that affect emissions, operational costs, and tenant well-being.

For Vert, this visit reinforced the importance of continuing to support advisors with education, insights, and real-world examples of sustainability in action. ESRT remains a model of what thoughtful ownership and long-term planning can achieve.

We’re grateful to ESRT and Dana Robbins Schneider for their leadership and for opening their doors to our advisor community.