Condensed Consolidated Statements of Capital (USD $) In Thousands, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2015
Increase (Decrease) in Partners' Capital [Roll Forward]
Beginning balance	$ 1,381,097us-gaap_PartnersCapital
Net income	7,888us-gaap_ProfitLoss
Equity compensation	1,694
Distributions	(22,973)
Ending balance	1,367,706us-gaap_PartnersCapital
General Partner [Member] \| Series PR operating partnership units
Increase (Decrease) in Partners' Capital [Roll Forward]
Beginning balance (in units)	107,191
Beginning balance	468,638
Conversion of operating partnership units to ESRT Partner's Capital (in units)	4,530
Conversion of operating partnership units to ESRT Partner's Capital	19,538
Net income	3,138
Equity compensation (in units)	25
Equity compensation	135
Distributions	(9,406)
Ending balance (in units)	111,746
Ending balance	482,043
Limited Partner [Member] \| Series PR operating partnership units
Increase (Decrease) in Partners' Capital [Roll Forward]
Beginning balance (in units)	100,211
Beginning balance	868,163
Conversion of operating partnership units to ESRT Partner's Capital (in units)	(2,084)
Conversion of operating partnership units to ESRT Partner's Capital	(18,052)
Net income	2,847
Equity compensation (in units)	426
Equity compensation	1,559
Distributions	(8,413)
Ending balance (in units)	98,553
Ending balance	846,104
Limited Partner [Member] \| Series ES operating partnership units
Increase (Decrease) in Partners' Capital [Roll Forward]
Beginning balance (in units)	42,365
Beginning balance	26,488
Conversion of operating partnership units to ESRT Partner's Capital (in units)	(1,708)
Conversion of operating partnership units to ESRT Partner's Capital	(1,068)
Net income	1,186
Distributions	(3,489)
Ending balance (in units)	40,657
Ending balance	23,117
Limited Partner [Member] \| Series 60 operating partnership units
Increase (Decrease) in Partners' Capital [Roll Forward]
Beginning balance (in units)	11,546
Beginning balance	6,567
Conversion of operating partnership units to ESRT Partner's Capital (in units)	(493)
Conversion of operating partnership units to ESRT Partner's Capital	(281)
Net income	322
Distributions	(955)
Ending balance (in units)	11,053
Ending balance	5,653
Limited Partner [Member] \| Series 250 operating partnership units
Increase (Decrease) in Partners' Capital [Roll Forward]
Beginning balance (in units)	5,790
Beginning balance	3,237
Conversion of operating partnership units to ESRT Partner's Capital (in units)	(245)
Conversion of operating partnership units to ESRT Partner's Capital	(137)
Net income	161
Distributions	(476)
Ending balance (in units)	5,545
Ending balance	2,785
Private Perpetual Preferred Units [Member]
Increase (Decrease) in Partners' Capital [Roll Forward]
Beginning balance (in units)	1,560
Beginning balance	8,004
Net income	234
Distributions	(234)
Ending balance (in units)	1,560
Ending balance	$ 8,004

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