Kushner Deal With Chinese Conglomerate For Fifth Avenue Skyscraper Collapses

By Daniel J. Solomon March 29, 2017

Chinese conglomerate Anbang Insurance Group is out of negotiations to redevelop the Manhattan headquarters of the Kushner family real estate empire, following concerns about its ability to provide the needed billions in capital and questions about possible foreign influence on ex-Kushner Companies head and now-White House adviser Jared Kushner.

“Kushner Companies is no longer in discussions with Anbang about 666 Fifth Ave.’s potential redevelopment, and our firms have mutually agreed to end talks regarding the property,” a spokesman for Kushner Co. told the New York Post on Wednesday. Anbang’s involvement had worried some due to its murky ownership and alleged ties to the Chinese government.

Jared Kushner has handed over his stake in the Manhattan office tower to a family trust since joining in the Trump administration, but he was heavily involved in initial talks with Anbang. He purchased the building for the family business back in 2007.

Redevelopment plans could run up to $11 billion in costs, and are said to involve adding 40 stories to the building.

Contact Daniel J. Solomon at [email protected] or on Twitter @DanielJSolomon

Daniel J. Solomon is the former Assistant to the Editor/News Writer at the Forward. Originally from Queens, he attended Harvard as an undergraduate, where he wrote his senior thesis on French-Jewish intellectual history. He is excited to have returned to New York after his time in Massachusetts. Daniel’s passions include folk music, cycling, and pointed argument.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO