Kushner Companies, reeling from a cash hemorrhage at 666 Fifth Ave. and vexed by multiple governmental investigations, is audaciously trying to stake a claim on Park Avenue, The Post has learned.
The real estate giant previously run by presidential adviser Jared Kushner has offered $250 million to buy out an entire luxury co-op building – fabled 417 Park Avenue, which until recently was the only residential address on the glamorous boulevard between Grand Central Terminal and 57th Street.
The 417 Park co-op board met on March 28 to discuss a “letter of interest” from Kushner Realty Acquisition LLC offering to buy all 10,000 apartment shares, according to a letter from the board to residents that was seen by The Post. The bid breaks down to an average price of $8.9 million per apartment.
The 417 Park Ave. board was also approached by a representative for William Macklowe Companies headed by Billy Macklowe.
Through a rep, Charles Kushner did not deny the offer but declined to comment. Billy Macklowe declined to comment.
The Emery Roth-designed 417 Park Ave., at the southeast corner of 55th Street, opened in 1916. It has 26 apartments on 13 floors behind a stately limestone façade. It converted from a rental to a co-op in 1946 and survived the wave of office construction that wiped out its apartment neighbors.
Glamorous occupants include “Scarface” producer Marty Bregman, whose 4,000-square-foot pad has been on the market at $7 million-$10 million for several years but has yet to snare a buyer. “The Exorcist” director William Friedkin once lived there and used his apartment as a setting in several films.
It’s exceedingly difficult, but not impossible, to buy a residential co-op building from its shareholders. Typically, 100 percent of unit owners must agree to any sale offer and to the price. However, 417 Park Ave. requires only a 67 percent majority to sell the property, insiders said.
Several offers to buy out 417 Park Ave. in previous decades went nowhere. What made the building, known as “the holdout,” newly desirable is recent East Midtown rezoning, which would allow a much larger building to replace it if a developer met stringent requirements for public amenities and transit upgrades.
Brown Harris Stevens this month sent a non-binding questionnaire to residents that asked whether the board should hire a real estate firm to advise it on the situation. Cushman & Wakefield, CBRE and Eastdil Secured were among firms under consideration, the letter said.
Last week, owners representing 83.6 percent of 417 Park’s shares voted “yes.” Brown Harris managing director Janet Roman could not be reached for comment.
Family-controlled Kushner Companies, meanwhile, is in talks to buy out Vornado Realty Trust, its partner at 666 Fifth Ave., after the office tower lost $25 million in 2017. A $1.2 billion mortgage will come due in February.
Vornado has long wanted out while Kushner thinks that sole ownership will make it easier to find new equity for the cash-bleeding address.
Kushner is under scrutiny by federal, state and city agencies over questions relating to financing sources and to possibly falsified Buildings Dept. filings. No charges have been brought.
Jared Kushner stepped down from his role at Kushner Companies in January 2017. It is now led by president Laurent Morali but is largely steered by founder Charles Kushner, Jared’s father.
The firm owns tens of thousands of apartments in New Jersey and Maryland. It’s a minority partner in Brooklyn’s former Watchtower site redevelopment and also owns Manhattan’s Puck Building.