New York Developers are family affairs

What does it take not just to survive but to excel in this city's competitive environment? Deep pockets, endless patience, strong ethics, a willingness to compromise and a talent for negotiation. It also helps if you happen to be born into the right family.

Durst, Muss, Resnick, Rudin, Silverstein, Tishman, Zeckendorf - these are among the 'royal families' of New York Real estate development...Of course, just having the right name is no guarantee of success in real estate development or any other business - especially in New York. "This is a complicated city to develop real estate in," says Steven Spinola, president of the Real Estate Board of New York Inc.

"Because the process is more complicated, it is more time consuming. It takes patience and some ability to hold on to a property for a longer period of time here..."

...consultants, analysts and participants in the real estate business also stress the importance of ethics.

"Although there have been exceptions, the leading New York developers have handled themselves well in this regard," says (Landauer's) Mr. White, who authored a chapter on ethics in the development business for a forthcoming book.

"The family element is an important part of that; a sense of ethics is passed down from generation to generation."

Some combination of all the above elements figures in the success formula of the (above) companies...