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Kushner Launching First Miami Project: A $550M Apartment Complex

The Kushner Cos. is launching a major apartment project in Miami, Bisnow has learned, the first in Florida for the third-generation real estate business.

Kushner Cos., the business now led by the brain trust of Charles Kushner, Nicole Kushner Meyer and Laurent Morali, is planning on breaking ground later this year on an 1,100-unit apartment project in Miami's Edgewater neighborhood, sources familiar with the deal told Bisnow.

The three-phase apartment complex will be the first South Florida project in Kushner history, according to the sources, who were not authorized to speak publicly about the deal. The first phase will comprise roughly 400 units, and Kushner plans to break ground on the site at 2000 Biscayne Blvd. in the third quarter.

Kushner isn't working with a local partner on the deal, sources said, and plans to finance the project through one of its existing banking relationships. Since Charles' eldest son and onetime CEO Jared Kushner entered politics, those relationships have come under scrutiny, including deals with Citigroup that closed after bank executives met with him in the White House. Officials with Kushner Cos. declined to comment. The heightened scrutiny has led to a smaller pool of potential partners. Kushner executives told The Wall Street Journal last month that they are no longer pursuing financing from sovereign wealth funds or through the EB-5 program. The company's previous attempts to finance business through these avenues — a common occurrence for many real estate companies — have drawn public questions about national security and conflicts of interest since Jared Kushner was named senior adviser to President Donald Trump, his father-in-law.

The vacant site at 2000 Biscayne Blvd. is currently owned by Miami developer Enrique Manhard, who paid $13.1M to acquire it in November, according to property records. Kushner is under contract to develop the 32K SF site, according to sources, and Manhard also controls neighboring sites that will likely come into play for the second and third phases of the project.

The sites fall within an opportunity zone. It is unclear if or how Kushner would take advantage of the program, which allows investors to defer taxes on capital gains by investing them into properties and businesses in designated census tracts.


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Kushner is not alone among major national players who are eyeing South Florida as a rental development hot spot. Mill Creek Residential Trust and Greystar are co-developing a project in Fort Lauderdale, The Real Deal reports, and 51,000 rental units were proposed, planned or under construction in the region as of December.

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https://www.bisnow.com/south-florida...medium=Browser