Jared and Ivanka try for more than just tabloid fodder

The marriage of real estate power couple Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner last month generated the kind of press coverage both the bride and groom are used to. Each born into families with histories of providing tabloid fodder, Trump and Kushner are nonetheless attempting to make headlines in the real estate world apart from their high-profile families. Neither is having a uniformly easy time making it as real estate moguls in their own right. Kushner’s acquisition of 666 Fifth Avenue has turned into something of a debacle for Kushner Cos., after office rents spiraled downward and debt grew on the property. And his purchase of a majority stake in the Observer couldn’t have come at a worse time in the newspaper industry. For Trump, one of her first major projects was the Trump Soho Grand, which is slated to open next month but which has been mired in bad press. Some expect that it will go into foreclosure. Still, others are impressed with the pair’s level of ambition. Trump and Kushner “have taken the silver spoons out of their mouths and have really accomplished something,” author Michael Gross told Crain’s this week.