Malkin earned $3.5M from Empire State Realty Trust in 2015

REIT CEO's total compensation dropped last year due to lower stock awards

Empire State Realty Trust
The Empire State Building (credit: Daniel Schwen) and Tony Malkin (credit: Max Dworkin)

After getting a nice raise in 2014, Empire State Realty Trust chair and CEO Anthony Malkin took home a bit less last year — earning $3.5 million in total compensation, according to a filing the real estate investment trust made with the Securities and Exchange Commission Monday.

Malkin’s 2015 compensation included a $550,000 base salary plus a roughly $1.2 million bonus and more than $1.6 million in stock awards, the filing shows.

Even factoring “other compensation” – like nearly $100,000 to cover the cost of a car and full-time driver – Malkin earned roughly $800,000 less than he did the previous year, when he received $4.3 million in total compensation from the company.

Like many REIT CEOs, Malkin’s pay on a year-by-year basis is heavily tied to stock awards . Malkin received nearly $2.3 million in stock awards in 2014, while he received no such awards in 2013, leaving him with only $1.5 million in total compensation that year.

In 2015, Malkin took in considerably less than counterparts at rival REITs such as Vornado Realty Trust, whose chair and CEO Steve Roth earned $10.9 million last year, and General Growth Properties, whose CEO Sandeep Mathrani received a $25 million stock award last year that pushed his total compensation to more than $39 million in 2015.

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SL Green Realty, the city’s largest office landlord, faced some criticism last year for awarding CEO Marc Holliday a $16.4 million compensation package in 2014 — a nearly 30 percent increase on Holliday’s total pay the previous year.

In considering the compensation awarded to its executives, ESRT’s compensation committee evaluated practices at a peer group of 13 public REITs – including SL Green, Vornado, Boston Properties and Paramount Group — “which operate and compete in high-barrier markets like New York,” according to the filing.

The committee also noted that the company’s 2015 performance “significantly exceeded” targeted corporate goals based on criteria like core funds from operations (FFO) per share, same-store net operating income (NOI) growth and property operating margin.

In addition to Malkin, ESRT president John Kessler — who joined the company in February of last year — earned more than $2.4 million in 2015, while CFO David Karp and director of leasing Thomas Durels each received around $1.7 million in total compensation.

As well as its flagship Empire State Building, ESRT[TRData] owns Manhattan office properties like the 26-story 250 West 57th Street in Midtown and retail assets like 112 West 34th Street in Herald Square, which holds sports apparel retailer Foot Locker’s flagship store.