Erez Takes 5.8% of Empire State Realty, Floats Asset Review
The investor says the shares are undervalued and may propose a strategic review. It has not demanded a sale, and nothing has been decided.
Erez Asset Management LLC has disclosed a 5.8% stake in Empire State Realty Trust, the owner of the Empire State Building, and says it may push for a strategic review of some or all of the company’s assets. The investor spent about $43 million on 10,000,000 Class A shares, according to a Schedule 13D tied to an Oct. 1, 2026 event date.
Why it matters
The filing is a proposal in waiting, not a sale. In Item 4, the Erez funds say they believe the shares are undervalued and that they have already discussed capital allocation, operations and strategy with management and the board. They say they may propose “a potential strategic review of some or all of the Issuer’s assets.” They also want to talk about board composition, capital structure, dividends and buybacks.
For anyone who builds, brokers or finances Manhattan office and observation-deck property, the signal is that a public landlord’s portfolio now has an outside holder asking what each asset is worth. Any review is a long way from a transaction, and the filing commits Erez to none.
The numbers
- Erez Asset Management LLC: 10,000,000 shares, 5.8% of the class, shared voting and dispositive power.
- Erez REIT Opportunities LP: 7,500,000 shares, 4.4%, held directly. The two counts overlap, since the LP’s shares are part of the manager’s total.
- Cost: about $43 million including commissions, funded from the funds’ working capital. That is roughly $4.30 per share by simple division (our calculation, a blended figure, not a reported trade price).
- Denominator: 172,165,643 Class A shares outstanding as of Aug. 4, 2026, taken from the company’s quarterly report for the period ended June 30, 2026.
- The purchase dates and prices sit in the filing’s Annex A, which we could not read, so we cannot say how much was bought on which day.
What’s next
Watch for an amended 13D, which is required if the plan changes materially, and for any response from the company’s board. The filing also reserves the right to buy more, sell or hedge, including through a pre-set trading plan. For deal context on how Manhattan office owners are repositioning, see our New York coverage and One Out to Bid: conversion beats every new build.
On the record
What we checked ourselves, and where you can check it too.
- SEC filingErez Asset Management LLC reports shared voting and dispositive power over 10,000,000 Empire State Realty Trust Class A shares, 5.8% of the class, with Erez REIT Opportunities LP holding 7,500,000 (4.4%), per the Schedule 13D with an Oct. 1, 2026 event date.
- SEC filingItem 3 of the filing puts the funds' cost for the reported shares at about $43,000,000 including commissions, or roughly $4.30 a share on our arithmetic.
- SEC filingItem 4 says the holders may propose a strategic review of some or all of the issuer's assets and want to discuss board composition and capital structure; it does not call for a sale.
On the record
- Primary recordSEC EDGAR, Schedule 13D, accession 0000902664-26-004065Schedule 13D: Erez Asset Management LLC and Erez REIT Opportunities LP, Empire State Realty Trust Class A stock, event date Oct. 1, 2026