The Manhattan tower co-owned by the family of Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, has been losing money for three years and faces increasing loan fees in 2017, which may explain why the family has been negotiating with Chinese insurance behemoth Anbang on new financing.
The fees, at 666 Fifth Avenue, kicked in last month and escalate with each payment until the loan is repaid, a 2011 refinancing agreement shows. December brings another hurdle: Interest paid on the bulk of about $1.1 billion of loans jumps to 6.35 percent, more than double what it was after the debt was refinanced in 2011.
And as the city’s biggest office construction boom in a quarter century creates a glut of supply, the property’s occupancy rates are falling.
.. Costing a then-record-setting $1.8 billion in early 2007, the building would later become a symbol for a period of irrational exuberance in U.S. real estate, where a belief in forever-climbing rents sent values soaring. The deal was financed with a $1.215 billion loan from Barclays Capital
.. Mortgages were granted under assumptions that now look rosy: The building would throw off $119 million in net operating income and would be 98 percent occupied, underwriters expected.
China Detains Rights Monitor Investigating Ivanka Trump Shoe Factory
Labor watchdog says it lost contact with three workers probing shoemakers, and at least one has been detained
Investigator Hua Haifeng was detained on suspicion of illegal eavesdropping, his wife said, citing a call Tuesday afternoon from police in Jiangxi province. Under Chinese law, that refers to the use of listening equipment in a way that causes “serious consequences.”
.. group’s founder, Li Qiang
.. Ivanka Trump shoe-brand licensee Marc Fisher Footwear, which operates as a middleman between the brand and Chinese factories, said it had been unaware of the situation and would look into it immediately.
.. China Labor Watch often investigates factories supplying prominent companies such asApple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. , with the aim of using the brands’ star power to bring broad attention to Chinese labor conditions.
.. China’s government tightly controls independent investigations and surveys. In recent years it has clamped down broadly on civil-society groups, detaining numerous activists and lawyers.
.. Mr. Li said he plans to send Ms. Trump video footage and other evidence of what the group calls questionable labor practices its investigators found at both factories, including longer shifts than the law allows, with workers asked to sign falsified time cards.
Keeping Kushner would make Trump’s Russia nightmare permanent
are family ties keeping Kushner employed at the White House? Or is it Trump’s mounting sense of persecution and his reluctance to let an aggressive media push him around?
- First, Barack Obama was still president at the time; while it is normal for an incoming administration to have informal meet-and-greets with foreign officials, Kushner’s proposal was so inappropriate that Kislyak was said to be stunned.
- Second, the idea of using only Russian communications equipment for the proposed dialogue suggests the Trump administration had something to hide from U.S. intelligence agencies.
- Third, there is the obvious question of what Kushner wanted to talk about that couldn’t be discussed through existing channels.
The White House should thus be settling in for a long siege. The good news, from Trump’s point of view, is that his senior aides are discussing how to set up a “war room” to handle communications about the scandal
.. Kushner’s sister, Nicole Meyer, was caught on video trying to lure Beijing investors into participating in a Kushner Companies condominium project in New Jersey by holding out the prospect of immigration visas that could lead to permanent residence in the United States.
.. no communications strategy, however brilliant, has a chance of succeeding so long as Trump has access to his Twitter account.
Grassley wants review of Chinese company’s marketing of deal with Jared Kushner’s family
The head of the Senate Judiciary Committee is calling for a review of “potentially fraudulent statements and misrepresentations” made by a Chinese company in promoting property investments that are partly managed by the company of senior White House adviser Jared Kushner’s family.
.. “As I’m sure you are aware, recent press reports indicate that Qiaowai has touted its relationship with the current administration as a guarantee that potential EB-5 investors will receive lawful permanent residence in return for a no-risk investment in One Journal Square,” Grassley wrote in his letter.
.. the company advertised that the project “in a real sense guarantees a permanent green card and the safety of the investment principal, and we consider it one of the best of Qiaowai’s 87 projects to date!”