Analysis Kushner New Jersey project, touted by sister in China, is in trouble at home

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Nicole Kushner Meyer (centre), the sister of US White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, and her husband Joseph Meyer look on during a promotional event in Shanghai on May 7, at which she urged wealthy Chinese to buy stakes in real estate through a controversial programme that offers US residency in exchange for investment. Photo: AFP

Published: 2:09pm, 9 May 2017Updated: 12:01am, 12 Apr 2019

When Jared Kushner’s sister took the stage in two Chinese ballrooms over the weekend to urge investors to fund a New Jersey development through a controversial visa program, she mentioned her brother’s role in the White House and displayed a photo of US President Donald Trump. It was a not-so-subtle signal that hers is a family company with connections.

What she didn’t mention was that the project has suffered a slew of problems: the exit of its anchor tenant, the loss of millions in tax breaks and a curdling political relationship with the mayor of its host city.

The previously unreported exit by tenant WeWork - which is also expected to sell its stake in the project - as well as the mayor’s shift, add up to a sharp reversal of fortunes that led the family firm, Kushner Companies, to do what it has done before: seek Chinese investors.

A poster for the Kushner Companies’ EB-5 sales pitch to rich Chinese is seen at a hotel in Shanghai on Sunday. Photo: Reuters

Kushner Companies first pitched a new tower at Journal Square in Jersey City as a revolutionary endeavour: two soaring towers filled with living and working spaces by the successful startup WeWork. The US$400 million project beckoned a new era when a formerly distressed area, across the river from Manhattan, would compete as a burgeoning hub for tech talent. And US$93 million in public subsidies showed the excitement of state and local officials.

That was 2015. By the time Jared Kushner’s sister, Nicole Meyer, made her pitches in Beijing and Shanghai -- raising conflict-of-interest concerns -- WeWork was out, forfeiting more than half the project’s subsidies. And Kushner’s role as White House senior adviser had damaged the tenuous balance his family had struck in liberal-leaning Jersey City, which has seen immigration-related protests.