In a good omen for Kushner Cos., 666 5th Ave. site saved

A 41-story New York office tower that Jared Kushner’s former company purchased 11 years ago — and that has since been a source of much financial trouble and political controversy — will be sold to a Canadian company under a deal announced last week.

The announcement has been expected for weeks, after Brookfield Asset Management of Canada said in May that it was negotiating the terms of such a deal.

Still, the finalization of the purchase of 666 Fifth Avenue marks a turning point in a saga that has dogged Kushner from the moment he became a senior White House adviser to his father-in-law, President Donald Trump.

Brookfield said in a statement that “financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed,” other than that the property will be owned by one of its real estate funds. The backing for that fund comes from about 200 limited partners, whose names were not released.

Kushner Companies declined to comment. Kushner’s lawyer did not respond to a request for comment.

Kushner withdrew from his role in running his family company when he joined the administration, and he transferred his interest in 666 Fifth Avenue to a family trust. Kushner has kept about 90 percent of his real estate holdings, according to an analysis last year by The Washington Post.

Don Fox, former general counsel and acting director of the Office of Government Ethics, said Friday that the companies should disclose details of the agreement to avoid concerns about conflicts of interest.

“I think it would be helpful to Jared and the Kushner Companies and beneficial to the public,” Fox said. “It would resolve a lot of questions that people in the press and the public . . . who are concerned about ethics in government are going to have.”

Kushner approved the purchase of the building in 2007, shortly after he took over the company founded by his father. Kushner Companies paid $1.8 billion, the most ever at the time for an office building in the United States. The deal quickly soured as the financial crisis hurt real estate values, and occupancy rates dropped.