Douglas Durst Biography
Douglas Durst is a real estate investor and developer from the United States. He is the president of the Durst Organization, a position he has held since 1992.
How old is Douglas Durst? – Age
He is 77 years old as of 19 December 2021. He was born in 1944 in New York, New York, United States.
Douglas Durst Family – Education
He was born in a Jewish family to Bernice (née Herstein) and Seymour Durst. He is Robert Durst’s younger brother. Joseph Durst, a penniless immigrant tailor from Austria-Hungary, eventually became a very successful real estate manager and developer, founding The Durst Organization in 1915. Seymour, his father, took over the family business after Joseph died in 1974. When Douglas was a child, his mother died in a fall from the roof of the family’s three-story house; the exact circumstances were never revealed.
Douglas received his high school diploma in 1962 and his bachelor’s degree in 1966 from the University of California, Berkeley. He spent two years at New York University’s Urban Studies program before joining the family business, which was then run by his father and two uncles, Roy and David.
Douglas Durst Wife – Children
In 1967, he married Susanne Durst, a Danish national whom he met after college in Denmark. They have three children: Anita Durst, the founder of Chashama, a charity that helps artists in New York City find an affordable or free studio and gallery space. Alexander Durst is the Durst Organization’s vice president of development, project management, and operations. He is married to Eva Billeci, the Durst Organization’s senior project manager. Helena Rose Domino is a vice president at the Durst Organization and a member of the boards of Just Food, Governors Island Alliance, the Manhattan Solid Waste Advisory Board, and New York Water Taxi and Circle Line Downtown.
Douglas Durst House
The Durst home at 27 Hampton Road in the affluent Fox Meadow neighborhood has just been listed for $3.8 million, with annual taxes estimated at $62,273. The Normandy stone Tudor was built in 1930 and has seven bedrooms and seven bathrooms. According to the Coldwell Banker listing, it sits on a half-acre of “private, beautifully landscaped grounds.” A sweeping marble staircase salvaged from the original Waldorf-Astoria, five fireplaces, beamed ceilings, hardwood floors, and custom millwork is among the architectural details in the 6,407-square-foot house.
Douglas Durst Illness
Durst suffered a severe leg injury in 1972 when a coal-fired water heater exploded in the house he shared with his wife and young family in Newfoundland. Durst’s lower right leg was amputated in 2015 after more than four decades of pain and many years of surgery. He walks with the assistance of a prosthesis today.
Douglas Durst Net Worth
He has an estimated net worth of $8.1 billion.
Douglas Durst VIA 57 West
Durst met architect Bjarke Ingels in the early 2000s while visiting Copenhagen with his Danish wife, Susanne. In February 2010, he paid a visit to Ingels’ studio. Durst Fetner Residential commissioned Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) to bring a new residential typology to Manhattan in the spring of 2010. BIG opened an office in New York in 2011 to oversee VIA’s development and construction. VIA 57 West is a 709-unit, four-sided, pyramid-shaped apartment tower on West Fifty-seventh Street that was completed in 2016.
Douglas Durst McEnroe Farm
Durst bought a plot of land from Ray McEnroe, the owner of an organic farm in Dutchess County, New York, about 100 miles north of Manhattan, in 1987. He bought the land in order to dispose of his horses’ manure in an environmentally friendly manner. Durst later joined forces with McEnroe, and the farm has grown to 500 acres, ranking among the top 25% of organic farms in the United States.