A Middle Eastern group joined New York real estate investors Philip Pilevsky and Joseph Tabak in a $2.1 billion bid for New York’s Empire State Building, the second takeover proposal reported before a planned initial public offering that would include the skyscraper.

Pilevsky, president of New York-based Philips International, said the offer is in cash. He declined to further identify the Middle Eastern group.

“My partners want to be discreet,” he said in a telephone interview.

Building supervisor Malkin Holdings LLC said Wednesday that two unsolicited offers for the tower were made last week and are being reviewed, according to a regulatory filing that didn’t name the bidders. The other offer is from Rubin Schron, a New York real estate investor, who proposed buying the skyscraper for $2 billion in cash.

Malkin Holdings -- led by Chairman Peter Malkin and his son Anthony, the company’s president -- is proceeding with plans to form a real estate investment trust that would include the landmark Manhattan tower after a 16-month fight with an opposition group.

Pilevsky said he was contacted by the Middle Eastern partners about making the bid.

“They view it as a last opportunity” to acquire the tower before it becomes part of the REIT, he said.

A call to Tabak at his firm, New York-based Princeton Holdings LLC, wasn’t immediately returned.

Moving Ahead

Malkin Holdings last month won enough votes from investors in the building to move ahead with the company’s proposal. The Malkins have notified opposing investors they would receive $100 for units projected to be worth more than $300,000 apiece, according to today’s filing. They have 10 days from getting the buyout notice to change their minds.

“We are reviewing the offers and their terms,” Peter and Anthony Malkin said in a letter to investors dated June 24. “We consider all matters, including unsolicited offers, consistent with our fiduciary duties, to form a judgment on what action is appropriate.”

They won’t comment further until the review is completed, according to the letter.

Pilevsky said the Malkins “know” his group’s offer is viable. He declined to elaborate.

The Pilevsky group’s involvement in the bid was reported earlier today on the website of the New York Post.

Hugh Burns, a spokesman for the Malkins with Sard Verbinnen & Co., declined to comment on the two offers.

An appraisal of the Empire State Building values the property at $2.53 billion, the Malkins have said in separate filings.