Description of Business and Organization - Narrative (Details)	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2017 ft² entity parcel office_and_property $ / shares
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements Disclosure [Line Items]
OP units owned by the Company, percent	53.80%
Area of real estate property (in sqft)	10,100,000
Number of entities to be treated as taxable REIT subsidiary of ESRT \| entity	2
ESRT [Member]
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements Disclosure [Line Items]
OP units owned by the Company, percent	53.80%
Common Class A [Member] \| ESRT [Member]
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements Disclosure [Line Items]
Par value (in dollars per share) \| $ / shares	$ 0.01
Office Building [Member]
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements Disclosure [Line Items]
Area of real estate property (in sqft)	9,400,000
Number of properties (in properties) \| office_and_property	14
Office Building [Member] \| Manhattan [Member]
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements Disclosure [Line Items]
Area of real estate property (in sqft)	7,600,000
Number of properties (in properties) \| office_and_property	9
Office Building [Member] \| Fairfield County, Connecticut and Westchester County, New York [Member]
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements Disclosure [Line Items]
Area of real estate property (in sqft)	1,900,000
Number of properties (in properties) \| office_and_property	5
Development Parcel [Member]
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements Disclosure [Line Items]
Number of properties (in properties) \| parcel	3
Retail [Member] \| Manhattan and Westport, Connecticut [Member]
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements Disclosure [Line Items]
Area of real estate property (in sqft)	205,740
Retail [Member] \| Manhattan [Member]
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements Disclosure [Line Items]
Area of real estate property (in sqft)	507,395
Number of properties (in properties) \| office_and_property	4
Retail [Member] \| Westport, Connecticut [Member]
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements Disclosure [Line Items]
Number of properties (in properties) \| office_and_property	2
Other Property [Member] \| Stamford, Connecticut [Member]
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements Disclosure [Line Items]
Area of real estate property (in sqft)	380,000

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Face amount or stated value per share of common stock.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 210
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.5-02(29))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6877327&loc=d3e13212-122682

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Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 272
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 3
-Subparagraph (b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6373374&loc=d3e70478-108055

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