From left: Stephen Meringoff, 158 West 27th Street and Leslie Himmel

Two real estate investors who picked up a 116,000-square-foot building at 158 West 27th Street for $25 million in 2010 have more than doubled their money, selling the Midtown South property for $57.5 million, Crain’s reported. Stephen Meringoff and Leslie Himmel sold the building to Emmes Asset Management. Adam Spies and Doug Harmon of Eastdil Secured—the same pair who handled the Chetrit Group’s $1.1 billion purchase of the Sony Tower—brokered the deal. Meringoff and Himmel acquired the building in 2010 by assuming the building’s distressed debt and forcing a takeover…. [more]

From left: Stephen Meringoff, the Verona and Sotheby's Roger Erickson

A little aggressive brokering can go a long way. Consider the $21 million deal recently struck by Sotheby’s International Realty broker Roger Erickson at the Verona on East 64th Street. According to the New York Times, Erickson had clients who lived in the Verona that wanted a larger apartment in the building; since none were on the market he sent letters to each of the owners in the 10-story co-op to see whether they were interested in selling.

“If you had asked me six months ago if I was going to sell my apartment, I would have said, ‘No way,’ ” Jonathan Sobel, who ultimately unloaded the apartment in which he had resided for 10 years, told the New York Times. [more]

Although developers Larry Silverstein and Harry Macklowe headlined the impressive list of speakers at Massey Knakal’s Commercial Real Estate Investment today, it was developer Sharif El-Gamal who jazzed up the audience at the second-floor auditorium in the McGraw-Hill Building in Midtown.

Speaking as part of a panel that included Brookfield Properties CEO Richard Clark, George Comfort & Sons CEO Peter Duncan and Himmel + Meringoff Properties’ managing partner Stephen Meningoff, El-Gamal talked about his company’s competitive advantages…. [more]