NEW YORK (Reuters) – The controller of the Empire State Building has offered investors the opportunity to sell some of their shares and relieve some of the expected tax burden if a proposed initial public offering is approved before the end of the year, according to a federal filing on Tuesday.

But that may not be enough to help the 2,824 investors pay what could be a tax liability somewhere between $50,000 and more than $100,000 depending on the pricing of the IPO shares and where the investor lives.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Vornado Realty Trust (VNO.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), owner of U.S. office and retail properties, reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings on Monday, despite softness in its Washington, D.C. area operations.

The company said first-quarter funds from operations (FFO) attributable to common shareholders was $348.5 million, or $1.82 per share, compared with $505.9 million, or $2.64 per share, a year ago, when the company recorded one-time gains from debt extinguishment and mezzanine loan loss reversals.

May 3 (Reuters) – Private equity firm TPG Capital Management
LP has agreed to take a 43 percent stake in Parkway Properties
Inc, which will use the cash infusion to buy the Hearst
Tower in Charlotte, North Carolina, from Bank of America Corp
.

The bank, in turn, has agreed to rent back space in a
10-year lease.

The Florida-based real estate investment trust said that
TPG’s $200 million equity stake in the company will enable it to
take advantage of opportunities to buy more properties at good
prices.

NEW YORK, May 1 (Reuters) – General Growth Properties Inc
, the No. 2 U.S. mall owner, raised its forecast for the
year after posting first-quarter earnings that rose on higher
rent, sales and occupancy.

Since emerging from bankruptcy at the end of 2010 , General
Growth has been focusing on leasing and culling its portfolio of
properties to include only its most productive malls.

April 27 (Reuters) – Simon Property Group Inc raised
its full-year forecast after posting better-than-expected
quarterly earnings on Friday, thanks in part to higher occupancy
and rent at its outlet centers and malls.

“It was a blowout quarter,” said Richard Imperiale,
president of Uniplan Investment Counsel Inc. “It’s no one or two
things that really drove it. It was just solid improvement
across most of the numbers.”

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A $740 million portfolio of performing loans on U.S. properities held by German lender Eurohypo has been purchased by US Bancorp (USB.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Wells Fargo & Co (WFC.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and private equity firm Blackstone Group LP (BX.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), according to sources familiar with the deal.

US Bancorp (USB.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) bought a $180 million loan tied to property owned by General Growth Properties Inc (GGP.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) at a slight discount to face value, paying in the high 90s percent of loan value, a source said.

NEW YORK, April 25 (Reuters) – Media company Viacom Inc
has signed a long-term lease that will keep it at its
current headquarters in a 54-story skyscraper in Manhattan’s
Times Square, the owner of cable networks MTV and Nickelodeon
said on W edn esday.

“New York City is the undisputed media capital of the world
and a vibrant source of inspiration for Viacom’s innovative and
creative employees,” Viacom President and Chief Executive
Philippe Dauman, said in a statement. “We have had a great
partnership with SL Green and have been proud to help lead the
revitalization of the Times Square neighborhood for two
decades.”

April 24 (Reuters) – CBRE Group Inc, one of the
largest global commercial real estate services providers,
reported better-than-expected first-quarter earnings on revenue
that rose 14 percent, as a strong showing from property sales.

Excluding $18.9 million in charges related to its acquisition
of ING’s real estate investment management business (ING RIEM),
CBRE reported first-quarter earnings of $45.9 million, or 14
cents per share, up from $40.6 million, or 13 cents per share in
the first quarter 2011.

NEW YORK, April 19 (Reuters) – Hedge fund manager William
Ackman sold his entire stake in Rouse Properties Inc
when the company was spun off from General Growth Properties Inc
, he said at a conference on Thursday.

After finding the market for lower sales generating “B” and
“C” quality malls, General Growth, the No. 2 U.S. mall owner,
spun off 31 malls in January to shareholders. As one of the
major shareholders of General Growth, Ackman’s fund company,
Pershing Square Capital Management received shares, which Ackman
immediately sold.

NEW YORK, April 18 (Reuters) – Beauty company Coty Inc has
signed a new lease for 317,716 square feet (29,517 square
meters) in New York City’s Empire State Building, adding two
floors to the four it already occupied in the iconic skyscraper.

The new lease, which expires in 2030, will call for Coty to
add 118,792 square feet of office space to the 198,924 square
feet it occupies in one of the world’s most famous landmarks,
said Anthony Malkin, president of Malkin Holdings, which
controls the building.