David Werner (born c. 1953) is an American real estate investor and founder of David Werner Real Estate.

Biography

Werner was born to an

Orthodox Jewish Orthodox Judaism is a collective term for the traditionalist branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as literally revealed by God on Mount Sinai and faithfully tra ...

family, the son of Holocaust survivors, and raised in the Washington Heights neighborhood of

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

. Werner started his career as an accountant and then began to invest in real estate with partners from his community in Brooklyn. After bidding on a building that was being sold by the estate of real estate investor Sylvan Lawrence, he found out that he had the right to seek a price reduction but instead committed to the transaction as he had given his word. In 1997, he was rewarded for his integrity by Lawrence's heirs who gave him first rights to a portfolio of four buildings which Werner purchased for $387.5 million and sold his interest for a $7.5 million profit. As one of the buildings (

111 Eighth Avenue 111 Eighth Avenue, also known as the Google Building and formerly known as Union Inland Terminal #1 and the Port Authority Building, is an Art Deco multi-use building in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. Fifteen stories t ...

) was later sold to Google for $1.8 billion, Werner changed his investment strategy and started holding a higher interest (typically 10%) for a longer period. Werner is considered a real estate syndicator following the model pioneered by

Harry Helmsley Harry Brakmann Helmsley (March 4, 1909 – January 4, 1997) was an American real estate billionaire whose company, Helmsley-Spear, became one of the country's biggest property holders, owning the Empire State Building and many of New York's most ...

meaning that he makes a bid for a property putting down a large nonrefundable cash down payment and then goes to his investor network to raise the additional money to close the transaction and secure a fee. From 2000 to 2014, Werner purchased $10.6 billion in real estate including the 2003 purchase of 11 Madison Avenue for $673 million. In 2012, Werner partnered with Brooklyn real estate investor

Joel Schreiber Joel Schreiber is a British-born American real estate developer, investor, and founder of Waterbridge Capital. Biography Schreiber was born to a Hasidic Jewish family in London. He moved to New York City and in 2000 – with the help of his fam ...

and purchased

One Court Square One Court Square, also known as the Citicorp Building or the Citigroup Building, is a 50-story, office tower in Long Island City, Queens, across the East River from Manhattan in New York City, United States. It was completed in 1989 and desig ...

for $481 million in

Long Island City Long Island City (LIC) is a neighborhood within the New York City borough of Queens. It is bordered by Astoria to the north; the East River to the west; Sunnyside to the east; and Newtown Creek, which separates Queens from Greenpoint, Brook ...

Queens Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...

from

Stephen L. Green Stephen Lawrence Green (born January 28, 1938) is an American real estate developer. He is the founder and former chairman of SL Green Realty Corp., which claims to be Manhattan’s largest owner of office buildings. He retired in January 2019 ...

's SL Green and JPMorgan Asset Management. In 2014, with $2.4 billion in purchases, he was the single largest purchaser of real estate in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

which included the $1.5 billion purchase of

5 Times Square 5 Times Square is a 38-story office skyscraper at the southern end of Times Square in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, New York, U.S. Located on the western sidewalk of Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue between 41st ...

from Allan V. Rose's AVR Realty and the $900 million purchase of the

Socony–Mobil Building The Socony–Mobil Building, also known as 150 East 42nd Street, is a 45-story, skyscraper in the Murray Hill, Manhattan, Murray Hill and East Midtown neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It occupies the block bounded by 41st Street, ...

from Hiro Real Estate. His long time investment partner is Mark Karasick who will own and manage the property while Werner earns a transaction fee and maintains his minority interest. In 2019, he acquired a 30% interest in 237 Park Avenue from

Scott Rechler Scott Rechler (born November4, 1967) is an American businessman. He is CEO and chairman of RXR Realty, making him one of the most prominent landlords in New York City. Previously, Rechler was the vice chairman of the Port Authority of New York an ...

's RXR Realty and Walton Street Capital. In 2023, Werner acquired The Bridge at Collegeville, a 1.9 million SF office and life-science campus in Collegeville, PA. He subsequently renewed the anchor tenant Dow for a 15-year term in what was described as the largest lease in the Philadelphia market in over a decade.

Personal life

Werner lives in the Borough Park neighborhood of

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

with his wife.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Werner, David 1953 births American Orthodox Jews Businesspeople from New York City American businesspeople in real estate American real estate investors People from Washington Heights, Manhattan People from Borough Park, Brooklyn Living people