UPDATED, March 21, 3:40 p.m.: Kushner Companies refinanced its Jersey City rental apartment tower Trump Bay Street with a $200 million Citigroup loan.
The mortgage is the second deal between the two companies since Jared Kushner met with Citigroup CEO Mike Corbat at the White House in March 2017. A Citi spokesperson told Bloomberg that the loan was not discussed at the meeting, and that Corbat was unaware Citi was making a loan.
The New York Times previously reported that the bank refinanced a Kushner-owned Brooklyn office portfolio with a $325 million loan after the meeting, raising questions over conflicts of interest for a senior White House adviser whose family has substantial real estate holdings.
Kushner Companies also landed a $184 million loan from Apollo Global Management for a Chicago skyscraper in November. The firm’s founder Joshua Harris previously met Kushner at the White House on several occasions.
“Kushner Companies says contrary to Bloomberg’s false claim in its article, which could not have been based on any first hand knowledge, it had many options for financing of the building but chose Citi with whom it has done many successful projects in the past,” a spokesperson for Kushner said in a statement. The project is being co-developed by KABR Group.
A Kushner Companies spokesperson previously told The Real Deal that the Chicago and Brooklyn buildings were “high-performing assets” and the company didn’t need help finding financing. Kushner’s White House job had no bearing on the family company’s relationships with financial institutions, the spokesperson previously said.
Kushner Companies funded construction of the Jersey apartment tower with the help of $50 million from the EB-5 cash-for-visa program. The company was reportedly struggling to refinance the tower. [Bloomberg] — Konrad Putzier