and paid twice what it was worth for a building with a 666 address. What would you expect?"
I think my 5 year old great-grandniece would have had more sense than to make a crazy deal like the one Crooked Kushner made on that 666 building buy. The apple didn't fall too far from the tree: Charles Kushner.
At Kushners’ Flagship Building, Mounting Debt and a Foundered Deal.
By CHARLES V. BAGLIAPRIL 3, 2017
The Kushner Companies’ flagship property, 666 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. After years of financial issues, the value of the office space is worth less than the mortgage, according to an analyst. Credit Karsten Moran for The New York Times.
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The Fifth Avenue skyscraper was supposed to be the Kushner Companies’ flagship in the heart of Manhattan — a record-setting $1.8 billion souvenir proclaiming that the New Jersey developers Charles Kushner and his son Jared were playing in the big leagues.
And while it has been a visible symbol of their status, it has also been a financial headache almost from the start. On Wednesday, the Kushners announced that talks had broken off with a Chinese financial conglomerate for a deal worth billions to redevelop the 41-story tower, at 666 Fifth Avenue, into a flashy 80-story ultraluxury skyscraper comprising a chic retail mall, a hotel and high-priced condominiums.
The official announcement said the company remained “in active, advanced negotiations” with a number of investors, whom it declined to name.
There is no question that the Kushner Companies — Jared has moved to Washington to serve as an adviser to his father-in-law, President Trump — needs to reach a deal soon, either to bring in a fresh infusion of cash or a well-heeled partner willing to foot the bill, if it wants to hold on to the building. Whomever it brings on as an investor would also have to buy out Vornado Realty Trust, the family’s partner in the tower.
More than a quarter of the office space in the building sits vacant. According to an analysis by Trepp L.L.C., a data and analytics firm that tracks bank lending, 666 Fifth Avenue has not generated enough money to pay its debts for several years, forcing the owners to cover the shortfall — at least $10 million in 2015. And that gap is growing. The interest-only $1.2 billion mortgage comes due in less than two years.
“This building has had financial issues for years now,” said Joe McBride, a senior associate at Trepp. “How much longer can they sustain it? Occupancy is at 70 percent, more leases are expiring, and they’re going into their own pocket to pay the debt.”
A deal with the Chinese company, the Anbang Insurance Group, which has ties to the highest echelons of the Chinese Communist Party, would have bound together two politically connected companies. It had become the subject of enormous media attention and had drawn scrutiny from Democratic lawmakers in Washington.
The speculation surrounding the deal became a distraction that led both companies to abandon the negotiations, according to a spokesman for Kushner Companies.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/03/nyregion/kushner-companies-666-fifth-avenue.html?_r=0
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