NEW YORK _ A company with ties to the Qatari government is nearing a deal to bail Jared Kushner's family company out of its financially beleaguered Manhattan skyscraper, raising concerns about the senior White House adviser's potential conflicts of interest, according to people familiar with the matter.
Kushner, who is President Donald Trump's son-in-law, was stripped of his top-secret security clearance earlier this year amid reports that wealthy foreign individuals and governments were trying to curry favor with him via Kushner Companies, his family's multibillion-dollar real estate agency.
Spurring those concerns, a person familiar with the discussions told the New York Daily News on Thursday that commercial real estate conglomerate Brookfield Properties is about to take control of Kushner's flagship building at 666 Fifth Ave. in Midtown.
The Qatar Investment Authority, the Middle Eastern country's government-controlled holding company, is Brookfield's second-largest shareholder, its stake only falling behind Brookfield's former parent company.
Kushner Companies declined to comment.
The New York Times first reported the pending Brookfield deal.
A spokesman for the publicly traded Brookfield Properties pushed back against suggestions that the Qatari government is playing a role in the Kushner deal. "They are in no way involved," the spokesman said.
A person with knowledge of Brookfield's company structure told the Daily News that money for the Kushner takeover would be sourced from a private fund that the Qatar Investment Authority is not an investor in.
The Kushners bought the 41-story office tower between 51st and 52nd Streets for a record-breaking $1.8 billion in 2007. But the building fell into financial disarray, and today it only earns back about half its mortgage annually with 30 percent of office space vacant.
The source familiar with the pending deal said Brookfield would take over Kushner Companies' lease on 666 Fifth Ave. Brookfield is looking to make "significant" renovations, including replacing the building's characteristic aluminum facade with floor-to-ceiling windows, according to the person.
Kushner left his family's business after Trump's election and has as a senior White House adviser been tasked with a laundry list of high-profile issues, including brokering Middle East peace.
But while he stepped down as chief executive, Kushner kept his ownership stake in the family firm.
News of the Brookfield takeover comes less than two years after Kushner Companies failed to close a sale of 666 Fifth Ave. to Anbang, a Chinese insurance behemoth closely connected to that country's iron-fisted ruling class. The deal collapsed amid skepticism from lawmakers concerned about Kushner blending geo-politics with family business.
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