Laurent Morali and Nicole Kushner Meyer

Kushner Companies’ 2024 saw the company hit $3.8 billion worth of transactions and capitalize over $1 billion worth of construction projects, mostly for properties in Florida and across its home state of New Jersey.

Kushner’s mixed-use Monmouth Square project in Eatontown, N.J., will include 1,000 apartments and 1 million square feet of retail with tenants such as Whole Foods, Cava and Van Leeuwen.

“We delivered Barnes & Noble already, and we’re starting to build out Whole Foods, and we’re in the process of lease-up,” said Nicole Kushner Meyer. “It’s been a really exciting and transformative project for that entire area.”

Kushner is also progressing on One Journal Square, which will offer 1,723 residential units with 45,000 square feet of amenities and another 45,000 square feet of retail that will host a Target.

The company’s continued progress throughout New Jersey owes itself to more than just Kushner embracing its origins.

“The fundamentals are really strong in New Jersey,” said Meyer (who is married to Commercial Observer owner Joseph Meyer). “There’s a lot of demand and not a lot of new supply. In the Monmouth area, when we looked at comps for rentals, there really isn’t anything that has been built in the last 10 or 20 years, because it’s very hard to get things entitled there.”

The company has also been doing more in Florida, including the 36-story apartment tower 2000 Biscayne in Miami, which includes 420 units and 4,200 square feet of retail, and a 70-unit luxury rental complex in Surfside.

“The difference between us and a lot of other players is that we went to Florida before it became Florida,” said Laurent Morali, referring to the area’s post-COVID blowup. “We were there in 2015 planting seeds and investing, which became a lot more valuable after COVID and the big migration down south.”

The company is also raising funds for two investment vehicles, one for multi-
family acquisitions, which closed in November, and another for multifamily development, for which discussions are ongoing.

“It’s the first time that we’ve opened up the capital of our platform to outside partners, who will take part in every single opportunity we originate and source out of here,” Morali said of the acquisition vehicle. “That’s very exciting.”