Leslie Wohlman Himmel: Commercial Real Estate’s Feminine Mystique
By Daniel Edward Rosen September 19, 2012 7:45 am
reprintsIndeed, Himmel + Meringoff is a business, and a successful one at that. Since 1985, it has amassed a portfolio estimated at more than $500 million.
Ms. Himmel is arguably New York City’s most prominent female landlord, and she belongs to the small sorority of female building owners who inhabit the male-dominated world of commercial real estate. She insists that the disparity still surprises her.
“I don’t actually understand it,” said Ms. Wohlman Himmel. “I sit at the [REBNY] Executive Committee table and I am the only woman owner. I don’t understand why, because there is nothing that unusual about the tasks involved with the business: The math, the law. Women are certainly capable.”
Ms. Himmel believes that in the world of Manhattan real estate, where there is a will there is a way—as long as that will has access to substantial capital.
“You just have to really believe in yourself and in your ability to create business opportunities and make money with it, and you have to convince others to give you money to do that,” she said. “I don’t think there is anything stopping women from doing that at all.”
“She has a good eye for the assets themselves,” said Ms. Tighe. “And she’s picked the right partner in Meringoff: she’s the quant, he’s the lawyer, and they both speak each other’s languages.”
Among her favorite deals was the one for 158 West 27th Street, a building Meringoff + Himmel closed on in December 2010 for $25 million.
“We had looked at it before it came on the market at all and had the opportunity to buy it directly from the lender,” she said.
What helped that deal, and other deals she has closed in recent years, was the favorably low interest rates.
“We’ve been a bit concerned that at these historically low cap rates at these very high prices, that when the interest rates snap back—which we think they will in a few years—we’re a little concerned that people are getting too aggressive on the cap rates for the secondary office buildings,” she said.
Competing in a market flooded with foreign funds and public investment vehicles has been tough, she concedes.
“The dynamics of New York are constantly changing in terms of office market opportunities,” she said. We’re lucky. We have approximately 2 million square feet and a portfolio that had huge increases in tenant rents, and we’ve enjoyed this wave, although we’ve been frustrated in trying to buy new properties.”
drosen@observer.com
