Empire State Realty Trust, owners of the iconic Empire State Building, filed to sell up to $1 billion of its Class A common stock, giving ordinary investors a chance to own a piece of the skyscraper that has been fought over by billionaires.

The tower, once the world’s tallest, has seen several owners over the decades and had been at the centre of a legal battle among the Malkin family, which controls the company, property tycoon Donald Trump and real estate heiress Leona Helmsley.

The Malkin family bought the property in 2002 but gained total control of the 102-storey building in 2010 after much wrangling.

In November, Malkin Holdings had said it would likely file to become a publicly traded real estate investment trust within three months. Like a slew of recent tech and Internet IPOs, the company will have two classes of stock: Class A share being sold to the public worth one vote and Class B shares with 50 votes each.

The structure gives significant control to the Malkin family.

Though the skyscraper, also known for its starring role in the movie King Kong, accounts for the largest chunk of the REIT’s revenue, the company also owns 12 office properties and six standalone retail properties, as of Sept. 30, mostly located in midtown Manhattan.

The proceeds will be used to pay existing stakeholders in the buildings who chose to receive cash in exchange for their interests, and to repay debt.

The REIT plans to list on the New York Stock Exchange under the Symbol “ESB.”

The Empire State Building held its own in the New York commercial real estate market – even when Lehman’s bankruptcy sent rents tumbling and tenants negotiated leaner terms – helped by the expensive renovations to its Art Deco structure.

Two years ago, the building’s owners embarked on a $500-million project to bring the skyscraper, completed in 1931, to modern environmental standards.

In its filing, the company said it currently plans to invest between $175 million and $215 million of additional capital through the end of 2013, to continue to renovate and reposition its properties.

On a pro forma basis, the company generated revenue of about $156.7 million from the building, for the nine months ended Sept. 30. In total, it earned $71 million, rebounding from lows during the financial crisis.

While large banks tend to be the fuel that drives New York commercial real estate rents, the REIT counts just one mega-bank, Citigroup, among its top five tenants.

The other large tenants are asset manager Legg Mason, insurer Odyssey America Reinsurance, cosmetic company Elizabeth Arden Inc. and financial data provider Thomson Reuters, the parent company of Reuters News.

In its filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs are underwriting the IPO.

A REIT is a real estatelinked company that can avoid paying U.S. corporate income taxes if it distributes at least 90 per cent of its taxable income to shareholders.

The amount of money a company says it plans to raise in its first IPO filing is used to calculate registration fees. The final size of the IPO can be different.

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