NEW YORK CITY-With more than 12 million square feet of commercial and residential real estate in New York City, the Durst Organization is one of Manhattan’s oldest family-run real estate empires--and also one the busiest. After completing the landmark one-million-square-foot Conde Nast deal at One World Trade Center in a joint venture with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey just last week, the company’s leading lady, Helena Rose Durst, co-VP and fourth generation family member, has been at the forefront of new development across the city, from Lower Manhattan, Times Square to Manhattan’s reemerging waterfronts.

But her interest in real estate materialized over time. Before joining the family business in June 2001, Helena originally wanted to pursue a career as an English teacher. But after transferring to Baruch College to study real estate, she discovered her niche. “New York was always a figure in my mind,” Durst says, describing that her family’s contribution to the city’s iconic skyline brought her back to her New York roots.

From there, Helena started her career as an intern at the Hudson River Park Trust, where she found her passion for the city’s diverse urban ecology. “There was a bug that was bitten in me,” she says. Durst became immersed in public policy and the city’s land-use review procedure at Community Board meetings and Department of City Planning hearings. And even when making difficult development decisions, Durst tells GlobeSt.com that she aims to build strong communities and connections without being overpowering. “I listen as much as possible and I use reason as my measurement stick,” she says. “I think about relationships not being for half-an-hour, a day or for just that meeting.”