The epic rivalry between Charles and Murray Kushner, wealthy New Jersey brothers with competing real estate empires, has intermittently flared up into lawsuits, fraud allegations and sordid revenge plots.
Now their competition has become entwined in a policy dispute in Jersey City, where both men are trying to remake the skyline.
Charles Kushner, whose son Jared is a senior adviser and son-in-law to President Donald Trump, this week accused the leaders of the staunchly Democratic city of trying to curry favor with anti-Trump voters by unfairly blocking tax incentives he needs to build two 56-story towers in Journal Square.
Comparing the city’s actions to religious or racial bigotry, Charles Kushner said Jersey City had discriminated against his company, Kushner Cos., by denying it the kind of tax subsidies Jersey City has offered other developers.
Left unsaid -- but widely known in Jersey City real-estate circles -- is that one of the most prominent companies to receive tens of millions of dollars in subsidies from the government is Kushner Real Estate Group, or KRE, which is owned by Charles Kushner’s brother and archrival, Murray.
Building Momentum
Neither Kushner Cos. nor KRE responded to questions on the rivalry.
In the early 2000s, when the brothers were still in business together, Murray Kushner began to believe his brother was mismanaging the firm’s funds and sued him. That sparked a legal battle that would eventually send Charles Kushner, at that time a prominent Democratic fundraiser, to prison after it was revealed that he made illegal campaign contributions and he hired a prostitute to entrap his brother-in-law.
KRE was the first major developer to commit to a major project in Jersey City’s blighted Journal Square area, receiving a package in 2013 of more than $40 million in tax breaks and subsidized loans. KRE’s development, called Journal Squared, opened a 54-story high rise last year and broke ground on a second tower that is slated to rise to 72 stories. It has plans for a third building too.
KRE’s project generated such momentum to redevelop the area that by 2015, Charles Kushner’s project, One Journal Square, was on track to receive $10 million in subsidized bonds, another $34 million in tax breaks, plus $59 million from the state of New Jersey. The sites of the two projects are less than a block away.
The rival Kushner real estate companies had long competed for tenants in Jersey City, and, according to two people who spoke with Charles Kushner about the negotiations, he was pleased to receive more public financing than his brother’s project had been allotted.