the oldest family run commercial and residential real estate companies in new york city . established in 1915 1 the company is owned and operated by the third generation of the durst family . as of 2014 it owns and manages more than 8.5 million square feet of class a office space in midtown manhattan and over 1 million square feet of luxury residential rentals . 2 it is a member of rebny . 3 contents 1 early history 2 shift to development and construction 3 one world trade center development 4 see also 5 references 6 external links early history edit in 1902 jewish immigrant joseph durst arrived in the united states from gorlice galicia austria hungary with three dollars to his name . he found work as a tailor in new york city and in 1912 he became a full partner in a dress manufacturer durst & rubin . using the profits from his business durst bought his first building in 1915 the century building at one west 34th street . in 1926 he acquired the original temple emanu el at 5th avenue and 43rd street 2 from benjamin winter sr. 4 5 the largest synagogue building in the united states at the time ; it was demolished in 1927 to make room for commercial development . 5 in 1927 he formed the durst organization . 6 more purchases included in 1929 the first residential building a 15 story building at fifth avenue and 85th street ; 2 in 1936 the park hill theater and store in yonkers new york ; 2 in 1944 205 east 42nd street . 2 shift to development and construction edit in the 1950s the durst organization shifted from primarily real estate management to new construction and development . they assembled the parcels for and completed the following buildings all of which it still owns in 1958 a 29 story building at 200 east 42nd street 655 third avenue ; 2 in 1961 the 24 story 733 third avenue ; 2 in 1966 the 32 story 201 east 42nd street 675 third avenue . 2 in 1968 they purchased henry miller s theatre the theater was later demolished although the facade was preserved to build the bank of america tower and the entire block facing broadway between 44th and 45th streets ; 2 in 1969 the 40 story 825 third avenue ; 2 in 1970 the 45 story 1133 avenue of the americas ; 2 in 1974 joseph durst died and his son seymour durst took control of the company during the real estate crash of the 1970s . 7 in 1984 the 41 story 1155 avenue of the americas ; 2 in 1989 the 26 story 114 west 47th street ; 2 in 1992 seymour durst retired and his son douglas durst took control of the company . seymour died in 1995 . in 1999 the 48 story 4 times square ; 2 in 2005 the 38 story helena at 601 west 57th street ; 2 in 2007 the 57 story epic on 125 west 31st street ; 2 in 2008 the 58 story bank of america tower at one bryant park ; 2 in 2014 the durst organization made plans for a large residential complex in queens n.y. 8 one world trade center development edit in 2010 the durst organization bid on and won the right to invest 100 million in the one world trade center development becoming a co developer with the port authority of new york and new jersey . 9 its contract with the port authority gives the company a 15 million fee and a percentage of base building changes that result in net economic benefit to the project . the specifics of the signed contract give durst 75 percent of savings up to 24 million and stepping down thereafter to 50 percent 25 percent and 15 percent as the savings increased . 9 since the company joined the project design changes include the 185 foot base of the tower the corners of which were originally designed to slope gently upward has been squared off . in addition instead of being clad in panels of prismatic glass it will be covered in hundreds of pairs of 13 foot vertical glass fins set against horizontal bands of eight inch wide stainless steel slats . 9 10 the spire originally intended to be enclosed with a decorative shell known as a radome described as a sculptural sheath of interlocking fiberglass panels will instead remain an unclad spire . as such the height of the tower may be officially reduced by the council on tall buildings and urban habitat from a symbolic 1 776 feet to the height of the roof at to 1 368 feet . 9 douglas durst the chairman of the durst organization indicates that the change will save 20 million . 11 12 the tower s architect skidmore owings & merrill has strongly criticized the move . steve childs the lead designer has stated eliminating this integral part of the building s design and leaving an exposed antenna and equipment is unfortunate ... we stand ready to work with the port on an alternate design . 11 after coming onto the project in 2010 the durst organization had proposed eliminating the radome to save costs but was rejected by the port authority s previous executive director 11 chris ward . patrick foye ward s september 2011 replacement 13 has changed the port authority s position . the decision is final as stated by douglas durst the antenna is going to be mounted on the building over the summer . there s no way to do anything at this point . 11 the plaza to the west of the building facing the hudson river which is at an elevation to vesey street to the north and west street to the west was supposed to have stainless steel steps reaching down to the streets . instead it will be a terrace set apart by a blocklong landscaped planter . in addition the port authority has removed a skylight set into the plaza which was designed to allow natural light into the observation deck lobby below ground . 9 the port authority has approved all the revisions . patrick foye the new executive director of the port authority states i think they ve been few and minor . 9 douglas durst the chairman of the durst organization commenting on the changes we didn t make the changes to save money ... the changes were made in order to construct the building . 9 see also edit national debt clock created by seymour durst . robert durst the son of new york real estate mogul seymour durst and brother of commercial developer douglas durst . he came to media attention in the 1980s when his wife disappeared and again in the early 2000s when he was the subject of a multi state manhunt and once acquitted of murder . references edit company overview of the durst organization inc. . businessweek . retrieved 2 april 2013 . a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q the durst organization timeline retrieved july 8 2012 http www.rebny.com content rebny en directory member firms.html the san bernardino county sun n. y. church site sold for 7 000 000 for skyscraper use december 15 1926 temple emanu el at the north cast corner of forty third street conceded to be one of the most valuable parcels of real estate of its size in the world has been sold to joseph durst vice president of the capital national bank at a valuation of 7 000 000 almost 370 a square foot . mr. durst plans to erect a 40 story office building on the site when he gains possession in may 1928 . the temple was purchased from the congregation last january by benjamin winter real estate dealer for 6 500 000 . a b the museum of the city of new york temple emanu el by lauren robinson october 11 2011 new york times seymour b. durst real estate developer who led growth on west side dies at 81 by alan s. oser may 20 1995 daniels lee a. november 8 1991 . chronicle . the new york times . retrieved 2008 10 06 . leap into residential market a b c d e f g new york times 1 world trade center is a growing presence and a changed one by david w. dunlap june 12 2012 new york post world trade center offers warm welcome by steve cuozzo may 24 2012 a b c d wall street journal pointed spat over world trade spire developer s plan to alter top of new tower arouses architects ire by eliot brown may 10 2012 wall street journal a beacon diminished by james panero september 10 2013 transportation nation patrick foye named new executive director of ny nj port authority by jim o grady october 19 2012 external links edit official website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title durst organization & oldid 731371275 categories real estate companies of the united states navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages nederlands edit links this page was last modified on 24 july 2016 at 22 50 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia 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