White House senior adviser Jared Kushner’s family’s financially troubled property, 666 Fifth Avenue in New York, is close to being saved by a Canadian company with direct ties to the Qatari government, according to a Thursday New York Times report.
The company, Brookfield Properties, is heavily invested in by the Qatar Investment Authority, the second largest investor behind Brookfield’s parent company, per the New York Times. If the deal goes through, Brookfield would reportedly take over the leasing and operations of the building, with plans on the docket for aesthetic changes and elevator installation.
The Times report does not disclose any prices being negotiated as part of the deal. The property is financially drowning after the Kushners bought it over a decade ago for $1.8 billion. It is reportedly only producing half of the annual mortgage, and large swaths of the building sit empty.
This deal would not be the first time Kushner Companies flirted with Qatari financial sources to salvage the property—in 2016, the family was reportedly negotiating a deal with a Qatari billionaire as well as Anbang, a Chinese company. That deal fell apart after being torpedoed by criticism about Jared Kushner’s mixing of his personal business and political role.
Per the Times, this new deal could stir up similar concerns, especially in the wake of Kushner’s loss of his security clearance due to the concern that foreign agents could manipulate him through his business interests.
Kushner resigned as chief executive of his family’s company when he joined the White House, but he reportedly still owns large stakes in the company. According to the New York Times, he gave up his stake in the midtown property by selling it into a trust controlled by his mother.
