Werner was born to an Orthodox Jewish family, the son of Holocaust survivors, and raised in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan.
[1] Werner started his career as an accountant and then began to invest in real estate with partners from his community in Brooklyn.
[1] As one of the buildings (111 Eighth Avenue) 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.
[1] Werner is considered a real estate syndicator following the model pioneered by Harry Helmsley 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.
[2] 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.