The Empire State Building is in the middle of a hotly contested proposed real estate investment trust.
Yet another bidder is trying to upend the $5 billion real estate investment trust that has the Empire State Building as its crown jewel.
Malkin Holdings, the company that controls the 102-story landmark tower and 18 other buildings and wants to go public by the end of the year, disclosed late last week in a financial filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it had received a $710 million offer for 60 E. 42nd St.
The building, located across from Grand Central Terminal, is 1.3 million square feet and 55 stories tall, making it the second largest building after the Empire State Building in the planned investment trust.
Malkin Holdings did not disclose the identity of the bidder. The offer follows several bids worth more than $2 billion that have been made on the Empire State Building by a collection of New York City landlords, including Joseph Sitt and Ruby Schron.
The offers have raised questions about whether the private or the public market is the best path for cashing in on the value of the real estate portfolio. Stephen Meister, an attorney who represents dissenting shareholders who want the Empire State Building to remain private, has insisted that REIT shares have been hit by rising interest rates, diminishing the value of their stock, and that a private sale of the assets would yield higher values. Mr. Meister's son, Jason Meister, is the broker representing the other offers, from Messrs. Sitt and Schron.
Those who favor a public offering say it could net $3 billion or more for the Empire State Building and that a REIT would replace the current sprawling ownership of the properties with a more efficient structure. http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20130724/REAL_ESTATE/130729956