Lucas Durst.
Lucas Durst, 30
Financial associate at Durst Organization
Lucas Durst’s love for commercial property began early.
A Tufts University alum with a master’s degree in real estate finance from New York University, Durst recalled accompanying his father Jonathan “Jody” Durst, president of the Durst Organization, to development sites when he was six or seven years old, where he’d sit in the laps of contractors and construction workers who were operating cranes and machinery.
Lucas Durst came on as a financial associate at the company about three years ago, after a two-year rotational program exposed him to nearly every area of the family business.
Since assuming his current role, he’s morphed into a sort of jack-of-all-trades financier responsible for sourcing debt financing for the 105-year-old company’s holdings, projects and potential acquisitions. Durst also works alongside the company’s Chief Financial Officer, Ira Marx, and its leasing and operations departments to understand and manage the firm’s cash flow and general finances.
Durst said his role is geared toward trying to “right-size our financing. Douglas [Durst, the firm’s chairman] finds a site he likes, one of our strong suits is having cash on hand to buy a site that we like. We’re pretty conservative when it comes to leverage levels, and we’re relationship-driven,” which is something Durst emphasized as a chief importance in today’s COVID-19-racked market. “It’s very valuable [today] to work with those we know.”
“The COVID-19 pandemic has given me a new appreciation for credit tenants too,” Durst added. “We benefit from being around awhile, but this has given me more appreciation for credit tenants and conservative leverage.”
One of Durst’s most memorable transactional highlights was the company’s $1.6 billion refinancing of One Bryant Park. Working alongside Marx, as well as joint venture partner Bank of America, legal representative Rosenberg & Estis and adviser Chatham Financial, the Durst Organization secured one of the city’s largest refinancings of 2019.
The company was able to combine a $950 million commercial mortgage-backed security loan from Bank of America with $650 million in previous public-assisted financing that had been issued on the office tower in 2009.
