After fifteen months of gruelling work to prepare the Empire State Building of New York to go public is nearing a crossroads where a crucial ruling is needed from a legal challenge made by opposing investors. The investors are questioning the deal put together by the firm that controls the skyscraper.

On April 29, Justice O. Peter Sherwood of the New York State Supreme Court would decide on whether unit holders who oppose the transaction can be bought out at US$100 per share, as stipulated in the plan. The judge previously ruled that he could throw out the votes of the Malkin family received to approve the plan should it be determined that the provision violates the law. 

Sherwood is also set to hear a US$55 million class action settlement that is bitterly opposed by a number of investors of the tower.

The proposal for the initial public offering that counts to be the second largest on record for a US real estate investment trust is facing many challenges from investors.