How it feels… to be an heir to a prominent real estate family


Lisa Silverstein,
40, senior vice president of Silverstein Properties, which is developing the Freedom Tower.

As told to Lauren Elkies

I got into the family business after I became a mother. I ran my ex-husband’s medical office at one time, but this was my first foray into professional life.

It’s my father [Larry, 75, founder and president], my brother [Roger, 43, senior vice president] and me in the business. I also have an older sister, Sharon — she’s 46 — who lives in San Diego and takes care of her two little boys.

My brother is much more involved in the leasing aspect of the business, and I’m much more involved in development, mostly residential and hotel.

My interest is lifestyle: We just acquired this site at 99 Church Street, and we’re planning on doing a very high-end luxury boutique hotel, where there’s zero competition, and a very luxurious condominium above in a high-rise. It’s really selling a lifestyle.

My interest is also expanding outside of the New York metropolitan area.

I deal with my brother very little. We pass each other all the time in the office, and we talk for a moment. We had a fairly normal upbringing. I don’t think that there were any pressures that aren’t there for anyone else: do the best you can, apply yourself, be disciplined. Just strive, that’s all.

I deal with my father every day. We’re in it together because he’s involved in the development aspect. I think my dad and I think alike on several levels. We analyze things in a similar fashion. We usually get to the same place in our opinions.

My father and I each bring something to the table. In terms of experience, he brings a lot more, but there are certain things he doesn’t have his finger on the pulse of — certain age groups and design. When it comes to design, there’s a little bit of yin and yang between us, and it always works out well.

I’m doing a project on the West Side on 42nd Street, now called River Place II. That building is being built for a younger crowd, and there is a little bit of [a] dynamic between my father and myself because he likes more traditional things, and he has to let go at times when everybody in the room is saying, “Hey, you’re appealing to an iPod-wearing crowd between 30 and 40.”

Other times he feels strongly — and he’s right that I have to let go of certain things. But, in general, we basically agree on things because most of it is about efficiency and bottom line, unfortunately.

I think that my father, even though it seems like he’ll never slow down, inevitably will, and it’s not too long off in the future. If he slows down, things will flow downstream. It’s just the natural course of things. Everyone else picks up responsibilities.

Alex Sapir, 27, president of the Sapir Organization, which owns buildings including 11 Madison Avenue and is developing projects including Trump Soho Hotel Condominium New York.

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As told to Lauren Elkies

I’ve been working in the family business on and off since I was a little kid. When my father [Tamir, 59, chairman] had an electronics business, I went to work with him on the weekends as well.

Growing up, school was always number one. We always had to get good grades and study hard. As my father became more successful, I think it was assumed that we were going to help him with the family business.

When I was just about to end college, I kind of wanted to do something else, which was, I guess, very upsetting to him. I was trading commodities; I think I just wanted to say that I did something myself.

Eventually I realized I should be in the family business; that’s really when I started taking a 24-7 role in the company.

My job is to make the company more successful, grow, and see how we make our organization better internally, and how we deal with out external relationships better. My father is still there to make sure everything is going all right, lend his hand, advice and experience when necessary.

Trump Soho definitely was a lot more my vision. I would speak to my father about some of the more global things, but I think more of the detail stuff really came from my side and my sister’s [Zina, 32, vice president] side. Because Trump Soho is a younger, Downtown, cool, five-star hotel, it has more of our imprint on it than his. He has more of a traditional, classic, more Midtown, feel.

I don’t get to see my father that often because he lives in Mexico half the year. He spends maybe a month or two in New York. He’s in Europe the remainder of the year.

But I talk to him about 26 times a day. We have the father-son relationship, but we really consider each other best friends.

I see my sister almost every day. I would say she is probably more interested in design and marketing. My interest is really every aspect of the business.

I have another older sister, Ruth [33 years old]. She is living in London raising her daughter. We speak daily. And I speak to my mother a couple of times a day.

There are a lot of people that would say — not just about me but about a lot of kids that step into the family business — “it’s pretty easy to do that, it was handed to them, so of course they’ll be successful.” I disagree, at least in my case.

You have to manage dealing with your family, which is a lot more emotional than dealing with people that don’t have your last name. Then you have the naysayer that says you shouldn’t be in the position that you’re in.

Me and my father used to fight and argue up until about six months ago. It’s just natural for any father and son to have that relationship. In the last six months, though, it’s like we really know what the other one’s thinking before we even have to say it, so there’s a lot less fighting, if any. And even if there is a difference of opinion, it’s not a fight now. It’s just a difference of opinion.

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