Empire State Building surprises NY with new lights

NEW YORK (AP) — Earlier this week, a switch was flipped at the Empire State Building, turning on its dancing new LED lights. They burst from the skyscraper, synchronized with R&B star Alicia Keys singing “Empire State of Mind” on radio.

But the weathered old floodlights haven’t been discarded or forgotten.

They fill a vacant space on the building’s 72nd floor. What will be done with them is a secret — for now.

The LED system has more than 16 million color possibilities, in digital combinations of ripples, sparkles, sweeps and strobes.

Anthony Malkin, whose family controls the iconic Art Deco building, says the new lighting system is part of an effort to modernize the 81-year-old edifice undergoing a more than half a billion-dollar renovation.