By Keiko Morris And Josh Barbanel
In New York City, the name Durst stands for a real estate
dynasty that built some of the city's most important office
buildings. It also is the surname carried by Robert A. Durst, a
troubled scion of the family now charged with killing a close
friend in a case that has generated headlines around the world.
Though a personal tragedy for Mr. Durst's estranged family,
marketing consultants and real-estate experts said the case wasn't
expected to affect the future of one of New York's most influential
private real-estate businesses.
"While this is an awful situation, this has no implication on
the Durst business and Durst operation," said Allen Adamson,
chairman at Landor Associates, a brand consulting and design firm
that is a unit of advertising group WPP PLC. "They will have to
remind people not once but many times as the story unfolds over the
next weeks and months."
The Durst name will be associated with the coming legal issues
swirling around Mr. Durst, but experts agreed that unlike a
consumer-goods company, the Durst brand plays to a relatively
narrow audience--the real estate sector. That industry cares most
about the quality of properties, the services provided and how the
company conducts its business.
In addition, the company already has weathered the sensational
media coverage of a murder trial in which Mr. Durst was acquitted
as well as a Hollywood film based on his story, they noted.
Finally, the company severed ties to Mr. Durst more than two
decades ago.
"I don't think this is going to impact the Durst Organization at
all," said Madelyne Kirch, president of Sun & Moon Marketing
Communications, a marketing firm for the real-estate industry which
has previously done business with the Durst Organization. She noted
that the headlines don't have anything to do with how the firm
conducted a deal or delivered services. "This is not a real-estate
story."
The assessments came as Mr. Durst was charged Monday in a 2000
killing of a friend in Los Angeles. Mr. Durst appeared to implicate
himself in the death, and others, in the final episode of a
six-part HBO documentary titled "The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of
Robert Durst."
The Durst Organization declined to comment beyond the statement
that its chairman issued on Sunday.
"We are relieved and also grateful to everyone who assisted in
the arrest of Robert Durst," said Douglas Durst, Mr. Durst's
younger brother. "We hope he will finally be held accountable for
all he has done."
Celebrating its centennial anniversary, the Durst Organization
controls billions of dollars of New York office buildings from the
angular Bank of America tower at One Bryant Park on West 42nd
Street to One World Trade Center, which it owns with the Port
Authority of New York and New Jersey.
The Durst family's business is credited by many with assisting
in the rebirth of Times Square by developing the tower known as 4
Times Square. And now, the company is in the midst of a residential
development boom, including a pyramidlike rental building on West
57th Street near the Hudson River and seven residential buildings
in Queens.
The business got its start in 1915 when Joseph Durst, an
immigrant tailor from what is now Poland, purchased his first
building on West 34th Street near Fifth Avenue, according to the
company's website.
Joseph Durst gradually assembled sites across Midtown. His son,
Seymour Durst, joined the company in 1940 and went on to develop
five office buildings on Third Avenue. He also put together acreage
on the West Side that was transformed into a series of large
developments, including the Bank of America tower long after his
death.
In 2014, Forbes magazine put the value of the family's holdings
at $4.4 billion, ranking it 58th among America's richest
families.
Seymour Durst originally had chosen Robert, his oldest son to
take over the family business, but changed his mind, replacing
Robert with Douglas as the designated successor in 1994. The
company is now run by Douglas, who serves as chairman, and his
cousin, Jonathan "Jody" Durst, who serves as president.
The Durst Organization's style has been "humble, to let their
work speak for themselves," Ms. Kirch said.
The company is known for being on the forefront of developing
environmentally sustainable buildings, inspired by 4 Times
Square.
The public drama surrounding Robert Durst is likely to go on for
some time, said Mr. Adamson, who expects the media frenzy to
continue on much like the O.J. Simpson criminal trial in the deaths
of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman.
"It obviously affects the people directly involved, and this has
not been an easy process for anybody in the Durst family, said
Steven Spinola, president of the Real Estate Board of New York,
where Douglas Durst is a director. "I have seen no effect on the
Durst [Organization's] ability to make a decision to build, to
commit to the city. I know he [Douglas] has not lost a single ounce
of respect among his peers."
George Arzt, a longtime political consultant and government
relations advisers, agreed.
"Everyone in the industry knows that Douglas has been afraid of
Robert for a long time and afraid of his actions," Mr. Arzt said.
"I don't think it impacts the Durst Organization or Douglas."
Write to Keiko Morris at Keiko.Morris@wsj.com and Josh Barbanel
at josh.barbanel@wsj.com
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