How Jared Kushner — and other developers — get money meant for low-income areas to build luxury developments

2017-06-01T12:11:00-04:00

Jared Kushner and his real estate partners wanted to take advantage of a federal program in 2015 that would save them millions of dollars as they built an opulent, 50-story residential tower in this city’s booming waterfront district, just across the Hudson River from Lower Manhattan. There was just one problem: The program was designed to benefit projects in poor, job-starved areas. So the project’s consultants got creative, records show.

Basically, the tactic is gerrymandering for real estate. Kushner and co. worked with state officials to demarcate the area around the site, 65 Bay Street in Jersey City, as including some of the city's poorest neighborhoods rather than the wealthy neighborhoods just blocks away. So the project looked like it was being built in an area of "extraordinarily high unemployment", reports the Washington Post, in order to get some $50M in low-cost financing via the EB-5 visa program.

The article notes that the move is perfectly legal and has been used by other developers. "But it illustrates how Kushner, who ran his family’s real estate company before he became a senior adviser to President Trump, and his partners exploited a loophole in a federal program that prominent members of both parties say has been plagued by fraud and abuse."

The Kushner family's new Zaha Hadid-designed tower for 666 Fifth Avenue is catching a lot of heat

2017-03-30T14:59:00-04:00

Jared Kushner’s family's new skyscraper has caused quite a stir. The design of the 666 Fifth Avenue building in New York has been widely mocked for its apparently "phallic" shape on social media [...] Although the project has reportedly raised concerns about a potential conflict of interest given the close working relationship between Mr Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, and Mr Trump, it was the skyscraper's design which grabbed the most attention.

Other people have noted that the building looks like a raised middle finger. Meanwhile, some have focused on the address—666 Fifth Avenue. According to Peter Grant of the Wall Street Journal, the Kushner family is trying to change the name to 660 Fifth.

I like this response, personally:

Archinect - News

How Jared Kushner — and other developers — get money meant for low-income areas to build luxury developments

The Kushner family's new Zaha Hadid-designed tower for 666 Fifth Avenue is catching a lot of heat