Kushners head to court over N.J. mall deal
Residents in lawsuit allege project secretly negotiated, rules rushed
WASHINGTON — Days after a seaside reception for his father-in-law’s presidential campaign, Jared Kushner set out to pitch a deal to a smalltown mayor: Kushner Cos. would transform an aging shopping mall into a livework destination, bringing culture and commerce to a scraggy stretch of the Jersey shore area.
The mayor, a retired police officer, viewed it as a brilliant offer his town couldn’t refuse. But hundreds of Eatontown residents turned out in opposition, packing borough council meetings last year to protest the Monmouth Mall expansion as a giveaway to Kushner.
Kushner soon won approval to build 700 apartments atop his mall parking lot as part of a $300 million expansion deal — an agreement that now is the subject of a heated lawsuit set for trial Monday.
Plaintiffs in the mall suit are claiming town officials privately negotiated with the Kushners for half a year without telling the community, then rushed a vote on new zoning rules that benefited Kushner’s company after the deal already had been rejected.
“People are mad. They’re mad at the mayor, and they’re mad at the backroom deals,” plaintiff and longtime resident Sara Breslow said.
The town’s attorneys say officials allowed ample time for debate before voting. And the attorneys for the Kushner Cos. say the mall was in “steady decay” and that those opposing the expansion want to block the company from building affordable housing for needy residents.
Other real estate deals Kushner has brokered in New Jersey are under attack, too, with residents also claiming local politicians are too accommodating to the powerful real estate family.
In Jersey City, the Kushners had hoped for a 30year local tax break for two residential towers, but residents took to the streets in February and the family recently withdrew its application. Farther down the shore, in Perth Amboy, the status also is shaky. The Kushners have been pressing the city to approve a downsized version of a 22-building waterfront community the family promised years ago, but that is uncertain given resentment over stalled construction and a lawsuit from condo investors who feel misled.
In Eatontown, the Kushners are giving every sign that their Monmouth Mall development is secure. Residents say land surveyors started digging into neighbors’ front lawns.