As a youth growing up in Brooklyn, this baby boomer owned and traded baseball cards. These days, instead of baseball cards, investors of my age and many others are flipping and trading real estate assets. To reduce tax liability stemming from capital gains, an astute real estate investor would typically wait just more than a year to close on a sale. In today’s crazy market, investors are seizing the opportunity to sell quickly and capture the extraordinarily rapid price increases.

In October, a joint venture of Murray Hill Properties and Westbrook Partners paid about $98 million for the 11-story, 175,000-square-foot Brill Building located at 1619 Broadway, on the corner West 48th Street. Earlier this month, the joint venture retained an investment banker to sell the building, which would probably fetch in excess of $140 million, or $800 a square foot, according to real estate sources.

“We are receiving unsolicited written offers at the rate of one a week for the Brill Building,” the managing member of the Murray Hill Properties Real Estate Fund III, Norman Sturner, said. “On the basis of all of these offers, we have decided to hire Eastdil Secured to tell us the value and market the property.

“The velocity in the stock market, coupled with the pricing of the euro — and in very short order we are going to see the Chinese yuan became a major factor in purchasing hard assets in New York City — and based upon limited supply, prices are going to rise,” he continued.

Last year, an investment partnership of Murray Hill Properties, Westbrook Partners, and David Werner sold the office building at 450 Lexington Ave. The joint venture purchased the property in May 2005 for about $480 million. About one year later, it sold the 911,000-square-foot office building to Istithmar for $600 million. The joint venture earned close to $100 million in the asset in about 12 months. “Less than four months after we purchased the property, we received an unsolicited bid from Dubai-based Istithmar expressing their interest to purchase the asset at a price way in excess of our purchase price,” Mr. Sturner said.

In February 2006, a joint venture of AEW Capital Management and Colliers ABR purchased the 22-story, 345,000-square-foot office building at 119 W. 40th St. and the 15,000-square-foot building at 120 W. 41st St. for about $100 million. According to real estate sources, a joint venture of George Comfort & Sons, Leon Charney, and other investors is in contract to purchase the buildings for about $180 million.

Elsewhere around the city, some investors are selling longheld assets to take advantage of today’s values. Industry leaders expect the 91,050-square-foot, 20-story office building at 989 Sixth Ave. between 36th and 37th streets to sell for close to close to $38 million, or about $400 a square foot.

“We typically purchase our properties with the philosophy of holding for a lifetime,” a partner, at Himmel + Meringofff Properties, Leslie Wohlman Himmel, said. “However in this capital-driven market with the properties selling at the lowest cap rates in decades, we are selling our property located at 989 Sixth Avenue. This was my first property acquisition when I joined my partner in 1985.

“The property has been operated as a full floor identity office building for many years and as I look at the changes in the neighborhood, I feel that there are enormous changes which will take place in the next decade that a new purchaser will be able to take advantage of,” Ms. Himmel said.

A number of office properties are on the market in the Herald Square and Garment Center region. An investment banker is marketing for sale the 16-story, 99,000-square-foot office building at 960 Avenue of the Americas. The building is completely occupied by Atlantic Bank of New York. Last year, the bank, a wholly owned subsidiary of the National Bank of Greece, was sold to New York Community Bancorp Inc., the holding company of New York Community Bank and New York Commercial Bank.

Earlier this month, a joint venture of the City Investment Fund and Savanna Management LLC, purchased the 20-story, 162,500-square-foot Children’s Wear Building at 131 W. 33rd St., built in 1959. It paid about $43 million, or $264 a square foot.

“We are preparing plans for a major repositioning of the building,” the president of the City Investment Fund, Thomas Lydon, said. “The building is poised for substantial rent increases due to proximity to Penn Station and the significant commercial redevelopment of the area.”

This spring, RFR Realty will be selling the mixed-use, 343,000-square-foot retail and office building 2 Herald Square. Formerly known as the Marbridge Building, it consists of office, showroom, retail, and garage space. The purchaser is Sitt Asset Management, which is paying about $500 million for the property. RFR has also retained an investment broker to sell the 11-story, 108,000-squarefoot Forbes Building at 90 Fifth Ave., built in 1903.

The 16-story, 235,000-squarefoot Seventh Avenue Atrium at 485 Seventh Ave. is being marketed for sale. It is expected to fetch close to $135 million.

An investment partner of L&L Acquisitions and Invescorp is marketing for sale its 18-story, 196,000-square-foot building at 250 W. 39th St.

The former Robert Hall building now owned by Citigroup at 333 W. 34th St. is on the market for sale.

The Moinian Group has been a very active purchaser of property on Fifth Avenue. Last year, it acquired the 36-story, 343,000-square-foot office building at 535 Fifth Ave. and the 13-story, 190,000-square-foot building at 545 Fifth Ave., situated on the entire eastern block front stretching between 44th and 45th streets. It is under contract to close on the purchase of three other buildings on Fifth Avenue. The properties include the 11-story, 412,000-square-foot building at 417 Fifth Ave., built in 1911. It is paying about $250 million, or $600 a square foot, to Murray Hill Properties and its joint venture partners. Later this spring, it will be closing on the purchase of the 23-story, 275,000-square-foot 475 Fifth Ave., built in 1927. It is paying $160 million, or $581 a square foot, for the property. The company has recently entered a contract to purchase the 26-story, 300,000-square-foot building at 245 Fifth Ave., at the southeast corner of East 28th Street. It is paying $190 million, or $633 a square foot, to the seller, a joint venture of Michigan Retirement System and KBS Realty Advisors. The retirement system acquired the building in 2000 for $48.3 million.

An investment banker is marketing for sale the six-story, 80,000-square-foot office building at 636 Avenue of the Americas on West 19th Street. Directly across the street, the retail condominium at 650 Avenue of the Americas is under contract for sale for about $32 million.

SL Green Realty Corp. announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire 331 Madison Ave. and 48 E. 43rd St. for $73 million. Both buildings are located adjacent to 317 Madison Ave., a 450,000-square-foot office building located on the corner of East 42nd Street that SL Green acquired in 2001. Upon completion of the acquisition the company will own three properties located between East 42nd and East 43rd Streets and Madison and Vanderbilt Avenues.

SL Green, a publicly traded real estate investment trust, owns 34 buildings totaling about 24.5 million square feet of office space in New York City. It is now actively involved in selling some of its assets. Earlier this year, it entered a contract to sell the 156,532-square-foot office building at 70 W. 36th St. for $61.5 million or $393 a square foot, to Time Equities. The company expects to realize a gain on this sale of about $50.2 million. According real estate sources, the new owner plans to convert the building in office condominiums.

Later this month, an investment banker will begin marketing SL Green’s 25-story, 186,901-squarefoot office building at 292 Madison Ave. Last year, it sold the office building at 286 and 290 Madison Ave. to APF properties for $63 million, or about $420 a square foot. The REIT is also selling the 200,000-square-foot office component at 110 East 42nd St.

This spring, Broadway Partners will close on the purchase of the 1.7 million-square-foot building at 450 W. 33rd St. It will be paying about $664 million for the property, which also includes about 800,000 square feet of air rights. The seller is an investor group that includes Arbor Realty Trust and the Chetrit Group. The group will retain a 2% interest in the building, as well as 50% of the building’s air rights.

The combination of a strong leasing market, availability of financing, and demand for New York City property will continue to fuel the fire of the trading of real estate.

Mr. Stoler, a contributing editor to The New York Sun, is a television broadcaster and a senior principal at a real estate investment fund. He can be reached at mstoler@newyorkrealestatetv.com.