UPDATE 3-New York judge may allow Empire State Building REIT
plan  Mon Apr 29, 2013 6:47pm EDT  By Ilaina Jonas  NEW YORK,
April 29 (Reuters) - A New York judge signaled on Monday he
would probably allow the group that controls the Empire State
Building to include the fabled New York landmark in a public
stock offering, despite objections of dissident investors.
Malkin Holdings wants to roll the 102-story tower in midtown
Manhattan into a real estate investment trust with 18 other
properties and launch shares on the New York Stock Exchange
through an IPO that could generate $1 billion. The REIT, Empire
State Realty Trust Inc, is estimated to be valued at about $4.2
billion.  A small group of investors, some of whom have held
small stakes in the building for decades or inherited them, is
seeking to stop Malkin, but on Monday they received a clear
indication they were heading for defeat.  "My tentative view is
that this matter is pretty straightforward," said New York State
Supreme Court Justice O. Peter Sherw