The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission today approved the documents allowing Malkin Holdings LLC, the owner of the Empire State Building, to vote on the plan to turn the skyscraping property into a publicly traded REIT, Reuters reported. Today’s approval comes after months of review.
“Malkin Holdings will commence its solicitation of investors in due course,” a Malkin spokesperson told Reuters.
The proposal to turn the Empire State Building into a REIT has created a rift among building investors. Some say that Malkin will get too much at their expense from a split in ownership, while others are in support of the plan. As previously reported, the building’s owners signed a $55 million settlement in November with the investors over the REIT plan. [Reuters] —Zachary Kussin