Why is the Empire State Building a wonder of the world?

Answerreal estate is always the last area to participate in a Financial Boom. The 1920s saw the greatest boom the world had ever seen. Real Estate at the end of a boom cycle always looks like the safest place to invest. Financier John Jacob Raskob and front man, the jovial Al Smith (retired politician, NY Governor and presidential candidate (1928)) led a consortium to replace the classic but run down Waldorf Astoria Hotel on the corner of 5th and 34th with the tallest building in the world. Fueled by optimistic rental projections, the building was completed in just a year, primarily due to great management and a massive but cheap workforce. Unfortunately the hype and rosy projections were not true. Rentals did not justify the building as it stood mostly tenant-less for a decade resulting in it being derided as the "Empty State Building." Most of the visionaries who funded the great giant lost their shirts.