BY KELLY ATHERTON

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM 

If you’ve always wanted to own a piece of prestigious New York property, now is your chance.

Malkin Properties, the owner of the Empire State Building since 1961, wants to put the ionic building into a Real Estate Investment Trust with 18 other New York properties and sell shares of it to the public, according to ABC News

To seal the $1 billion public offering, Malkin Properties needs 80 percent of the 2,800 owners to approve the plan, The Huffington Post reported.

Two groups of owners have been clashing over the issue. Some want to keep the building’s ownership the same while others want to put the ownership into the REIT, according to ABC News.

In a public statement, owners of the building who are pro-IPO urge that a REIT would bring needed liquidity, aid capital appreciation, increase distribution and render management more accountable and more transparent, reported ABC News.

“It’s better the way it is,” Richard Edelman, head of the anti-IPO group, told ABC News. According to Edelman, most of the families bought units for the predictable income they paid and never intended to sell. They hoped that some day they would be able to pass ownership down to their children and grandchildren.

The Real Deal reported that Malkin Properties told investors that they had secured 94 percent of the votes needed to continue with the REIT.