Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, is part of a group that invested in 5,500 residential units in and around Baltimore years ago, according to Multifamily Executive magazine.
“Armed with a deep network of industry connections and financial partners, Kushner stealthily targets complex off-market mega-deals for properties that aren’t exactly jet set destinations,” the publication said in a September 2012 story. “The company aims for distress-ridden class B apartment communities in second-tier cities such as Toledo and Baltimore.”
That August, “Kushner bought 5,500-plus units in and around Baltimore through a complicated transaction refinancing past-due debt with $371 million in fresh Freddie Mac financing – and netting a 25 percent ownership stake for a Kushner-led investment group,” the article continued.
The magazine did not specify which properties Kushner, who is married to Ivanka Trump and heads Kushner Companies, invested in or how much was paid. If the average price of each apartment was $100,000, the 5,500 units would have cost $550 million.
The article stated Kushner was contractually prohibited from discussing details of the Baltimore portfolio investment but said he confirmed the “opportunity came to the team off-market via relationships.”
In 2014, the Baltimore Business Journal reported that Kushner joined with Aion Partners of New York to buy a “three building apartment portfolio” in Middle River for $37.9 million. The buildings are at 305 Retford Way, 1558 Alconbury Road and 50 Hebron Drive, according to the publication. They contain 514 apartments in all, which works out to $74,000 per unit, according to a Kushner announcement from August 2014.
A 2012 accounting by a group called New Valley Real Estate listed some of Kushner’s holdings in Maryland at that time. They included: Dutch Village in Baltimore City (544 units); Pleasantview in Baltimore City (259 units); Highland Village on Baltimore’s Westside (1,098 townhome units); Riverview Townhomes (330 units); Commons at White Marsh (1212 units); Harbor Point Estates (650 townhome units); Whispering Woods (524 townhome units); Cove Village (299 units); Fontana Village, (356 units); and Hamilton Manor in Hyattsville (245 units.)
On Saturday, The New York Times ran an article that referred to Kushner’s Baltimore-area holdings.
“Increasingly, the company is branching out across the country – to Philadelphia; Baltimore; Toledo, Ohio; and Kansas City, Mo.,” the authors wrote.
Donald Trump becomes President of the United States on Jan. 20. Kushner and Ivanka Trump recently bought a house in Washington, D.C. to be near the White House.
News surfaced last week that Kushner’s close friend, Reed Cordish of the Baltimore-based Cordish Companies, is in talks to join the Trump administration as Assistant to the President.
Kushner’s reported Baltimore-area acquisitions bring to more than 20,000 the number of “garden apartments” and townhomes controlled by Kushner interests, mostly between New York and Maryland. A Kushner affiliate, Westminster Management, is operating the Baltimore properties, according to Multifamily Executive magazine.
