[ by Larry Goldfarb ] It is popular to criticize Goldman Sachs following the Greg Smith Op-Ed, or the SEC $550 Million settlement over charges related to Subprime Mortgage CDOs.  But a recent deal became apparent that Goldman is still one of the savviest, if not the savviest players on Wall Street.  The deal also demonstrated that Goldman has a the knack for winning at others' expense - even when the deal involves real estate. The deal commenced in 2004 with the purchase, by Goldman, of the Manhattan's Park Central Hotel for $215 million.  In 2006, Goldman added renovations, putting an additional $465 million of debt into the 1920s-era hotel near Carnegie Hall.  Goldman accomplished this by getting the building’s appraisal significantly raised by first investing about $15 million to upgrade the rooms and lobby, and then having its partner, Highgate Holdings, raise the hotel's occupancy rates.  This raised the building's appraised value to $594 million - more than double Goldman's purchase price and added improvements. Goldman had a number of contributors to the financing, including $203 million that was sold as commercial mortgage-backed securities with an adjustable rate;  a $32 million slice of junior debt held by Rheinland-Pfalz Bank of Germany; $61 million in junior debt held by a joint venture of Winthrop Realty Trust of Boston, Inland American Real Estate Trust Inc. and Lexington Realty Trust; and $111 million held by a subsidiary of Canadian pension manager Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec. In the end,  Goldman recovered all of its equity and at least $150 million in profit, people familiar with the deal said. When the market turned down in 2008, some funds gained others lost, but no one made what Goldman made on the deal. [WSJournal, 1/11/12]