Courtesy of the National Cartoon Museum

The museum is relocating from Boca Raton, Fla., to occupy a three-level, 15,000-square-foot exhibition and retail space on 34th Street, beginning in late 2006.

"The Empire State Building, which has been drawn in countless cartoons and comic books as the symbol of New York, will soon become a home for Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny, Superman, Dick Tracy, Blondie and thousands of other beloved comic strip characters," said The New York Times recently, devoting a large story to the museum's choice of its new location.

"We are very proud to have attracted this treasure to the Empire State Building," says Peter L. Malkin, Chairman of the Wien & Malkin entities, who notes that the museum's arrival dovetails with major enhancements taking place for the millions of tourists who visit the Observatory each year.

Synergy Anticipated

"We expect there will be substantial synergy between the Observatory and the museum," Mr. Malkin says.

As reported in the summer issue of Real Estate Investor, a comfortable new visitor orientation area has been completed on the second floor, alleviating congestion in the lobby, and plans are moving forward to create a state-of-the-art multi-media experience that includes colorful "story galleries" on the second and 80th floors, the reopening of the 102nd floor observatory and improvements to the main 86th floor Observatory.

"These improvements will provide visitors with a richer experience, while enabling us to facilitate more traffic and generate additional revenues through higher ticket prices and more sales in the Observatory shops," says Mr. Malkin.

In its story about the National Cartoon Museum's relocation, The Times said, "For some comic book characters, the move will represent a trip back home," noting that the predecessor of Marvel Comics had its offices in the Empire State Building in the 1940s and early '50s, "in the heyday of cartooning."

The National Cartoon Museum contains some 200,000 original cartoons from more than 50 countries, along with 10,000 books and 1,000 hours of animation. Mort Walker, creator of Beetle Bailey, founded the museum in 1974. Its new space at the Empire State Building is being designed by Ralph Applebaum, designer of the Holocaust Museum in Washington and the Clinton Presidential Center, which is the former president's library, in Little Rock.