Can Larry Silverstein’s Heir Apparent, Marty Burger, Rise to the Occasion?

In December 2009, Mr. Silverstein’s real estate company, Silverstein Properties, hired Mr. Burger as an executive vice president. The decision was at once surprising and yet also somewhat expected. Mr. Silverstein’s steely resolve and endurance through a WTC redevelopment fraught with seismic setbacks and conflicts had given many in the real estate business no reason to doubt he might very well keep a firm hand on his real estate business for years to come. Most, of course, also knew his tenure leading a firm involved in such an ambitious slate of development and investment activities couldn’t last indefinitely.

“I’m 81 and I can see the huge difference of where I am today and where I was 10 years ago,” Mr. Silverstein said. “All-night negotiating? Those days are gone. I don’t have the energy level. At the end of the time, I’m tired. It’s not for me anymore. So working with Marty is an absolute dream.”

Although Mr. Silverstein wanted Mr. Burger to fill his shoes, he felt it was best to have a feeling-out period, hence Mr. Burger’s initial title of vice president when he was hired in December of 2009.

“The plan was let’s live together for a while and see how it goes,” Mr. Silverstein said.
The feeling-out period suited Mr. Burger.

“It was a huge opportunity but there was a risk there as well,” said Michael Fascitelli, chief executive of Vornado who became friends with Mr. Burger when both worked at Goldman and who Mr. Burger has looked to for advice during his career. “Larry is 81 and he’s not going to change much. So how are he and Larry going to click? How is he going to fit with the whole organization?”

Mr. Fascitelli was, of course, alluding to Mr. Silverstein’s children, Roger and Lisa, and also to Janno Lieber, a top executive at Silverstein Properties who has long been Mr. Silverstein’s right-hand man and who, at one point, many expected would become his heir to the company.
But the potential for any fractionalization in the organization didn’t play out.

“Roger is in charge of office leasing in the company, which is a huge job—we have millions of square feet,” Mr. Burger said. “Lisa is involved more on the residential end of our business and has several philanthropic endeavors she’s involved in.”

Mr. Lieber, a lawyer by training who tenaciously fought for the company’s interests at the WTC site during tense standoffs with the Port Authority and withering pressure from various government officials, meanwhile, has continued to focus on that development.

“If I had to deal with overseeing the WTC project, it would be all of my time,” Mr. Burger said.
“Janno works very closely with Marty, and Marty with Janno; you couldn’t ask for a better relationship,” Mr. Silverstein said. “The collegiality with which we function here was important. We have people here who have been here for 25 years. This is my extended family and I don’t want to change that, and Marty got that.”