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"The proposal was discussed with Rama during a coffee in Davos"/ WSJ: Kushner and Trump's plan for "paradise" in the south of Albania

2024-10-05 12:52:16Politikë SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX

"The proposal was discussed with Rama during a coffee in Davos"/ WSJ:

Aided by political connections and money from the Gulf states, the "super couple" Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, plans to develop ultra-luxury resorts in Albania. This is how the Wall Street Journal begins its article dedicated to plans for investment in the island of Sazan, which is planned to turn into a temple that will offer the highest level of comfort for visitors.

Months after leaving the White House in 2021, Kushner and Ivanka Trump spent a week on a yacht with friends on the pristine Adriatic beaches of Albania.

They climbed the stone steps of a 2,200-year-old Greek theater, dined on a yacht with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama and were so "wondered" by a visit to a military island that they thought it would be the perfect destination for a luxury hotel, Kushner said.

The trip made such an impression that when Kushner met Rama a few months later at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, he had a proposal.

As they drank coffee together, Kushner said he was "very, very mesmerized by the beauties of Albania," said Rama, a head of state over 2 meters tall, in an interview. "He asked me if I would be OK with him considering it for potential investment."


Rama gave his blessing, and more.

Kushner, 43, is now working on plans for a $1 billion development of ultra-luxury resorts. He is negotiating details with Rama's government to set up exclusive villas on Sazan, the military island he visited, a former Soviet base where abandoned bunkers and tunnels dot the rocky hills.

A cluster of high-end resorts are planned for a nearby peninsula where cows and sheep graze next to stunning beaches and dunes accessible only by a broken road. That land is ecologically protected, but a new Albanian law allows the construction of hotels, as long as they are at least five stars.

The standard playbook for family members of candidates running for office is to stay out of the limelight, to avoid getting involved in politically connected deals that could cause controversy.

Kushner is moving towards them.

Since leaving the White House, where he served as a senior adviser to his father-in-law, then-President Donald Trump, Kushner has built a new business empire while engaging in geopolitical ties on a scale rarely seen for such a person. close to a major presidential candidate, a scale that runs into the billions of dollars.

Kushner has relied on ties to Arab monarchs to raise most of the money in his $3.1 billion private fund from Middle Eastern countries, drawing criticism from members of both parties in Congress. His new company, Affinity Partners, is filled with former Trump administration officials. Some are contenders for top government jobs if Trump wins this November.

In the Balkans, Kushner appealed to the leaders of Albania and Serbia to develop real estate on public land without having to go through competitive auctions, drawing criticism from opposition politicians in both countries. In Serbia, a provision that he build a memorial that the government says would be dedicated to all the victims of NATO aggression – in a country the alliance bombed in 1999 – has proved particularly controversial with both Serbian nationalists and with former US officials, including Gen. Wesley Clark, NATO military commander during the war in the Balkans.

Kushner's fundraising and foreign property deals are fueling fears that he and other members of the Trump family could benefit by cultivating relationships with world leaders and companies seeking influence with a potential future president.
Kushner's fundraising and real estate deals "give foreign governments leverage over the Trump family," Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat, said in a Sept. 24 letter to Affinity. "Affinity's investors may not be motivated by commercial considerations, but rather by the opportunity to funnel foreign government money to members of President Trump's family, namely Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump."

Affinity, Kushner said in response to questions about Wyden's letter, "will be judged by one measure -- investor returns."

Kushner's connections and geopolitical experience, he believes, simply help give his company a fair edge in business.

"I don't think anybody ever said I broke any rules or didn't follow the laws in doing this," Kushner said in an interview last month.

Should Trump return to office, "does this add complications?" he asked. "Maybe. There will probably be more scrutiny on me today than a year ago." He is also not distancing himself from the presidential campaign.

From his office in Miami, Kushner plays an informal advisory role. He says he is "there to fully assist and advise" Trump and his team.

He also takes calls from senators and congressmen on both sides of politics, he said, all seeking his input on a variety of issues, from the Middle East to navigating Trump's world.

He is not planning to return to government — Kushner's wife, the former president's 42-year-old daughter Ivanka Trump, has said as much — although some people advising Trump's campaign team said they are skeptical.

"People know I want Trump to succeed, but I don't want to go into government," he said.

Life in Miami

After Trump left office, Kushner and Ivanka Trump were eager to begin the next chapter.

The couple and their three children quickly left for Miami. They rented a 7,000-square-foot apartment while renovating a $24 million home on Indian Creek Island, a hyper-exclusive island village on Biscayne Bay where roughly 30 homes form a horseshoe-shaped perimeter around a clubhouse and golf course. .

Ivanka Trump chose a more low-key presence than her pre-2017 life. She no longer does the branding deals or the Trump hotel development and acquisition that took up so much of her time. She often accepts appointments on the discreet terrace of the Surfside Four Seasons, at her home and at Affinity's offices.

She is not primarily involved with Affinity, which is wholly owned by Kushner, beyond working on the Albanian resort. Earlier this year she appeared on the Lex Fridman Podcast, where she revealed renderings of the planned resort for Sazan, which featured undulating concrete structures that mimic the island's rock formations.

“We're in the process of doing the master planning right now,” she said.

Kushner, however, sought a higher position in the business than his previous role running his family's real estate empire. Shortly after the end of the Trump administration, he began using his power and star connections to approach potential investors, seeking billions of dollars for a new private equity fund.

Fundraising success

Affinity found the most fundraising success in the Middle East.

Most of the $3.1 billion it raised came from sovereign wealth funds in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. He cultivated relationships with the countries' leaders when he negotiated normalized relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and a merger with other sheikhdoms in 2020.

"These are the most coveted investors in the world right now, so we feel very fortunate to have them," Kushner said.

Using Gulf Arab money also has the added benefit, he said, of furthering his policy goals of increasing economic ties between that region and Israel, where Affinity has invested in two companies.

At first, Affinity picked investments that largely avoided controversy, cutting checks for startups and tech companies like a United Arab Emirates-based classifieds website and a German fitness firm. It has also invested in several publicly traded companies, such as building products company QXO and Israel-based financial services firm Phoenix Holdings.

Kushner said Affinity has so far reached agreements to spend about half of the fund's capital. It has received more than $150 million in management fees, according to Wyden's September letter, with its investors paying similar fees to other large funds.

Returning to "his roots"

Ultimately, Kushner returned to his real estate roots, but in an unexpected place: the Western Balkans.

These countries in Southeast Europe typically struggle to attract foreign investment, and American real estate investors in particular are virtually non-existent. Non-member countries of the European Union are among the poorest in Europe.

Investors have expressed concern about corruption in these countries, a perennial problem that has prompted criticism from many US administrations. Luxury apartments are often used as money laundering tools by buyers.

However, Kushner saw an investment opportunity. Apartment prices are booming in Serbia, while tourists have recently flocked to Albania's low-cost beaches.

Affinity aims to create thousands of hotel and apartment units just minutes from a new international airport being built near the city of Vlora.

Plus, he had an ally with an inside track. Grenell, who as Trump's envoy to the Balkans was close to the Serbian president, had long eyed the two-building Yugoslav Army General Headquarters building in Belgrade's historic city center, which the government has sought to redevelop. .

This was complicated. The country was bombed by NATO in 1999 amid an effort to end Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's campaign of ethnic cleansing in Kosovo. A pair of nearly decayed downtown buildings remain, with twisted steel armor protruding from a concrete shell.

Grenell, eager to bring American investment to the region, called Kushner a few months after Trump left office to try to sell him on the Belgrade site.

Ultimately, Grennell won over Kushner. Kushner sent an employee, who was "blown away" by Belgrade's vibrancy, Kushner said, and he was further convinced after speaking with legendary Emirati investor Mohamed Alabbar, a major investor in Belgrade.

In May, Serbia said it agreed to a long-term lease for the site with Kushner, who would develop a $500 million mix of high-end hotel rooms, apartments and retail in three towers. As part of the deal, Kushner would also build a publicly managed memorial complex, which the government said in a press release would be dedicated to the victims of "NATO aggression."

The Serbian government said the deal would help attract more foreign investment to the country.

A new Mediterranean

At the same time that Belgrade's plans were moving forward, Kushner was eyeing the Albanian coast.

After his yacht vacation in 2021 and his coffee in Davos with Rama, the Prime Minister of Albania, he set his sights on two ideal spots. Sazani – a 3-mile-long mountainous island where a perimeter of white rock meets an azure sea – and private land on the Zvrnec peninsula, a stunning strip of beaches where white flamingos flock.

Kushner envisions returning both countries to a high-end haven.

Working with Ivanka Trump on the project, he has submitted plans to the Albanian government for a series of resorts and villas nestled among the dunes and forest of the Zvrnec peninsula. Eventually, they hope for thousands of hotel and apartment units, just minutes from a new international airport being built near the city of Vlora.

Sazani would be more exclusive – a cluster of a few hundred secluded villas crammed into the hillsides, run by the high-end Aman hotel brand.

It was Ivanka Trump's idea to bring Aman into the project, Kushner said. The brand manages ultra-exclusive resorts with rooms that tend to start above $1,000 a night. Vlad Doronin, a Soviet-born billionaire who runs Amman, was initially taken aback by the idea but ultimately signed on after sending someone to survey the location, Kushner said.

Kushner and his friends would build their properties on the island, too, he said, to "build a community there." A close friend, Jeff Zalaznick, who runs Major Food Group out of Miami, plans a Carbone restaurant in the area.

Currently, the Albanian government is reviewing the plans, but Rama has been supportive. He calls Kushner a friend and the two exchange messages on WhatsApp.

Months after Kushner officially presented the plans, Albania changed a law to allow hotels in environmentally protected areas, as long as they are five stars or above. The government has said the law had nothing to do with Kushner and was aimed at tourism across the country, but opposition politicians and environmental activists have attacked the legislation and claim a deal with Kushner is aimed at currying favor with Trump.

Rama said the negotiations with Kushner have nothing to do with Kushner's ties to Trump and are consistent with his vision to build the coast as a high-end tourist destination while holding onto its mass appeal with middle-income earners.

"If this happens like the plan," Rama said, "it will be a jewel in the crown of the Mediterranean."


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