By Matt Chaban 7/30/12 7:04pm

Machers

Stick to your back yard. (Durst Organization)

Durst in China: Development Is for Locavores

Leonine developer Douglas Durst might not be quite the public presence than his father Seymour once was—a regular in the letters to the editor column and on local talk shows, among other outlets for his restless mind—yet he still very much knows his way around a podium. Last week, he found himself in China, talking about New York, and he even seems to admit that the one investment his firm recently made just across the Formosa Strait might not have been its best.

“My experience is almost completely New York centric,” Mr. Durst said at the China Alliance’s US-China Investment Summit: Focus On New York Real Estate in Shenzen. “Our one experience outside of New York convinced us to stay in New York. Real Estate is always local.”

He also, naturally, talked about his kids—it’s now a fourth generation business!—and how building sustainably not only provides better buildings, and thus better income, for them, but also a better world. There was talk of 4 Times Square and 1 Bryant Park, but nothing about the widely anticipated, mildly concerning West 57th Street pyramid. The full speech is below. Read More

By Matt Chaban 2/29/12 2:50pm

Machers

The original debt clock, across from Bryant Park after it was reactivated in 2002. (Getty)

Romney Robs Debt Clock from Democratic Dursts

One of New York’s biggest developers is making an unexpected contribution to Mitt Romney’s presidential campaigns. No, it is not Steve Ross, head of the Related Companies and an active bundler for the Republican front runner. Nor is it Donald Trump, who once ran against Mr. Romney but now endorses him.

The secret supporter of sorts is the Durst Organization, a long-time supporter of Democratic politicians no less. The contribution is a simple clock. Read More

By Staff 2/22/07 5:00am

The Dursts and The Malkins Still Don’t Like the World Trade Center

“Everybody who called me or responded said they agreed with what we said,” Douglas Durst, developer of One Bryant Park, told The Real Estate on Wednesday afternoon.

He was talking about the reaction to the ad that Mr. Durst and fellow real estater Anthony Malkin placed that morning in major New York newspapers. The ad Read More

By NYO Staff 9/18/00 12:00am

Todd Martin Syndrome

During the final week of the U.S. Open, a ripple of anxiety rifled the normal calm of Manhattan men in their late 20′s and early 30′s. Call it Todd Martin Syndrome.

It hit one 31-year-old television writer as he was sitting in his living room, watching Mr. Martin’s demanding fourth-round match against Carlos Moya. “I’m Read More

By Greg Sargent 9/27/99 12:00am

Times Square Land Grab! Doug Durst Fights for Peep-Show Block

Douglas Durst must be feeling pretty frustrated lately.

Mr. Durst, the sardonic 55-year-old heir to one of the city’s greatest real estate empires, has tried for a decade to seize control of an immensely valuable strip of real estate on the west side of Sixth Avenue between 42nd and 43rd streets. There, Mr. Durst would Read More

By Greg Sargent 8/17/98 12:00am

It’s a Tough Town When Your Skyscraper Falls-From Sulzbergers to Giuliani, Enemies Emerged; Developer Considered Dynamiting Drea

On the morning after a scaffolding collapsed at the Conde Nast building on Times Square, the building’s developer, Douglas Durst, stood in a supermarket in the West 40′s. Dazed and exhausted after a night of emergency phone calls and dark thoughts about the future, he made a private vow to avoid the newspapers, which would Read More