By Jotham Sederstrom 6/21/11 1:20pm

the sit-down

It’s been more than a year since Jody Durst took over the reins as the Durst Organization’s president, and, as one can imagine, business has become only more frenetic since then. With the announcement of Condé Nast’s deal to move from 4 Times Square to 1 World Trade Center and an aggressive search underway to fill retail space at 4 Times Square, Mr. Durst, 55, has been every bit as busy as before the downturn. Mr. Durst talked about the company’s dearth of big deals and what’s on the horizon for the firm.

Jody Durst on Condé Nast’s Next Cafeteria, Filling 4 Times Square

The Observer: There was a lengthy gap between when the unofficial deal with Condé Nast leaked to the press more than a year ago and when the deal actually became official earlier this month. What transpired between then and now?

Mr. Durst: There were significant issues that needed to be worked out, and significant negotiations that took place. Condé certainly wasn’t going to tell us two years ago, before a deal had been structured, that they were going to come down. Obviously, they needed to ensure that it was under business terms that they could agree with, and that it was in the best interest of their company and employees to go down there.

They did a tremendous amount of due diligence between then and now, and there were, as I said, significant deal terms and issues that needed to be addressed. Read More

By Jotham Sederstrom 9/15/09 12:00pm

The Cousins Durst

Commercial Observer: What have you been up to since stepping down as co-president?
Douglas Durst: I’m starting to step away and attend less meetings and come in a little later and that’s been terrific. My father taught me that you go for cocktails and then you have somebody say ‘I just saw him over there,’ Read More