From left: Anthony Malkin and the Empire State
Building

Malkin Holdings, operator of the Empire State Building, said it “embarked on a course of action” to become a real estate investment trust, in a regulatory filing today, Bloomberg reported. Documents could be filed with the SEC to make the 2.9 million-square-foot tower a publicly traded entity as soon as February. As The Real Deal previously reported, the Malkins had been considering this move since at least April. The landmarked tower, which has undergone a $550 million capital improvements program in recent years, would present a lucrative opportunity for investors, as prices for trophy towers rise as the recession fades. Comments

From left: Charles Cohen, Anthony Malkin and 112 West 34th Street

A New York State Supreme Court judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by landlord Charles Cohen against W&H Properties, the tenant at one of Cohen’s buildings at 112 West 34th Street, between Sixth and Seventh avenues, according to Crain’s.

Cohen alleged that W&H had violated its lease agreement, signed in 1963 and valid through 2077, by adding a new glass façade to the building without his permission. W&H pays $840,000 a year in rent, according to reports, a lot less than Cohen could get by renting it nowadays.
The judge said there was not sufficient evidence that W&H made structural changes to the building, Crain’s reported.
Cohen intends to appeal the decision, his lawyer said, but Anthony Malkin, president of W&H, predicted he wouldn’t be successful. [more]

From left: David Childs, architect of 1 WTC, and Anthony Malkin, owner of the Empire State Building

Falling debris is the biggest risk factor for glass in buildings in the event of a hurricane in New York City this weekend, according to real estate experts. While last night’s radar prediction for Hurricane Irene from the New York Times indicates that the city may not be hit full-force with a hurricane, but rather with a tropical storm, the danger from falling debris and glass is still a cause for concern.

At a press conference yesterday afternoon, Mayor Michael Bloomberg warned New Yorkers to avoid glass windows. “There’s always a risk of flying debris shattering windows, and that risk increases if you’re in a high-rise, on the 10th floor or higher,” he said. [more]

Anthony Malkin and the Walgreens space at the Empire State Building

Walgreens has swapped its 10,000 square-foot store on the ground-floor concourse of the Empire State Building for the same amount of space on the second floor, the New York Post reported. The new space will have a dedicated entrance for visitors to the building’s observatory, who can pop in on their way back to street level.

Malkin Holdings, which has been attempting to bring New York’s most iconic tower back to its glory days since 2006, will convert the former former drugstore space into a fitness center exclusively for building tenants.

“I talked to Walgreens over 18 months ago. I told them, ‘There’s a vacant Chase bank branch right above you, and 4 million people a year from the observatory walk right by it,” said President Anthony Malkin. [more]

The Malkin family is feuding again over a piece of the Empire State Building, this time with Skyride Associates, which runs the 16-year-old helicopter tour simulation ride on the second floor. According to the New York Times, the unlicensed street vendors who sell and promote the Kevin Bacon-narrated attraction have been the target of a recent police crackdown outside the building, having been issued 14 summonses and hit with six arrests since April, and Skyride believes the Malkins are the cause. On Monday, Skyride, which emerged from bankruptcy in February and pays more than $3.5 million annually in rent, filed a petition in State Supreme Court in Manhattan to stop the crackdown, as it says its vendors have never before needed licenses to sell tickets. Yesterday, a judge granted the company a temporary restraining order. Walter Threadgill, Skyride’s majority partner, told the Times that he thinks the Malkins are trying to oust the 15-minute attraction because it doesn’t fit with their recent efforts to revamp and rebrand the building with more upscale tenants. (The Real Deal chronicled the Malkins’ attempts to transform the building in the April issue.) [more]

Business networking platform LinkedIn has signed a seven-year deal to lease the Empire State Building’s entire 25th floor, Crain’s reported. The deal is a coup for the Malkin family, the owner and asset manager of the city’s most famous office building, which is still mostly filled with hundreds of tiny, mom-and-pop tenants. As The Real Deal chronicled in a profile of the building last month, the Malkins have been furiously trying to transform the 2.9 million-square-foot property into one that attracts the kind of big-name, big-money tenants that its 80-year history can command. [more]

From left: Douglas Durst, Jody Durst, Andrew Cuomo, Marc Holliday and Andrew Mathias

What do Douglas and Jody Durst, heads of the Durst Organization, Marc Holliday and Andrew Mathias of SL Green and Governor Andrew Cuomo have in common? They topped the Observer’s annual list of the 100 most powerful people in New York real estate. Carlos Slim, believed by some to be the world’s richest person, Sam Zell and Gary Barnett headline the notable newcomers to the list, while old money like Peter and Anthony Malkin and Bill Rudin also place in the top quarter of the list. Finally, the newest presidential candidate, Donald Trump, jumped two places to 14th on the list from last year, and and Mitchell Steir and Michael Colacino are the highest ranking working brokers, both at No. 33. [NYO] [more]

From left: Developer Charles Cohen, 1400 Broadway and Anthony Malkin, president of W&H Properties

Developer Charles Cohen is suing W&H Properties, alleging that the company violated a long-term lease at its 1400 Broadway tower by failing to obtain permission to renovate the 38-story property between 38th and 39th streets, Crain’s reported. Cohen is seeking to have the lease terminated. The lease began in 1962 and could be extended all the way to 2063. Last week, the New York Times reported that Cohen was trying to terminate W&H Properties’ lease at 112 West 34th Street for the same reason. “We are seeing a pattern of arrogance from W&H,” said Warren Estis, a partner at Rosenberg & Estis, which is presenting Cohen. [more]

From left: Charles Cohen, Anthony Malkin and 112 West 34th Street

The $81 million Pinnacle Award-nominated renovation of 112 West 34th Street by father-and-son development duo Peter and Anthony Malkin may have won critical acclaim, but it wasn’t actually legal, according to developer Charles Cohen, who owns the building. In a new lawsuit, Cohen alleges that the Malkins’ W&H Properties, which has a 115-year lease on the property dating back to 1963, never got permission to make structural changes, as required by the terms of their agreement. As a result, Cohen is seeking to oust the Malkins and terminate their $840,000-a-year lease, according to the New York Times. [more]

Anthony Malkin and the Empire State building

Li & Fung, a Hong Kong-based trading company, signed a lease yesterday for 490,000 square feet in the Empire State Building, the largest deal of the new year and one which would have also topped last year’s list, the Post reported. The deal comes after months of negotiation between the landlord and tenant. The lease includes several floors in the base of the building, which has asking rents ranging from the mid-$40s a square foot to the high $50s, according to CoStar. Anthony Malkin, president of W&H Properties, which owns the Empire State Building, declined to comment, as did Li & Fung.
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