Ivanka Trump has emerged as the mastermind behind a billion-dollar eco-friendly state-of-the-art hotel that features extravagant underground villas resembling real-life Hobbit homes.
The tiny homes will be dug into the cliffs of the uninhabited Sazan Island in the Mediterranean Sea, according to early artistic renderings.
The rugged surroundings of Albania’s Adriatic coast were once a secret Soviet military base riddled with thousands of buried bunkers and underground tunnels.
But Donald Trump’s daughter, 42, and her son-in-law Jared Kushner, 43, believe wealthy tourists will flock to the communist-era outcrop to enjoy its pristine beaches, abundant wildlife and subtropical climate.
Kushner’s investment firm Affinity Partners is in advanced talks with the Albanian government to develop several major resorts, including its Sazan Sea Villas project, according to Forbes.
Ivanka Trump has emerged as the mastermind behind a billion-dollar eco-friendly state-of-the-art hotel that features extravagant underground villas resembling real-life hobbit homes.
The tiny homes envisioned by the former First Daughter will be dug into the cliffs of the uninhabited Sazan Island in the Mediterranean Sea, according to early artist renderings.
The former First Daughter has given details of her plans to create tiny homes dug into the cliffs of Albania’s uninhabited Sazan Island in the Mediterranean Sea.
But Ivanka’s close involvement was first revealed this week when she boasted to podcaster Lex Fridman that she and her husband have “this 1,400-acre island in the Mediterranean.”
The mother of three said: “We are building, bringing in the best architects, the best brands. To have a point of view and challenge people who are such artists, with respect but not afraid to ask questions, it takes a lot of confidence to do that.”
Ivanka revealed that she has hired Swiss-based luxury resort operator Aman and upmarket restaurant chain Carbone to operate the project’s hotel and restaurants.
“It’s amazing to bring all this talent together and be able to play and flex the muscles of real estate again and have a little fun with it,” he purred.
“Construction and real estate are like a giant puzzle and I love puzzles.”
The former First Daughter praised the Tolkien-style suites depicted in artists’ renderings as “extraordinary” but insisted they were “early concept drawings” rather than finished plans.
Sounding more like an architect than an economics graduate, she explained: ‘It feels like you want to honour the existing topography and this is obviously very modern, but obviously it makes it feel good in terms of the context of the vegetation and the terrain that exists and not just a beautiful glass box.
‘Obviously, you want glass, you want to look out and see that beautiful blue ocean. But how do you do that in a way that doesn’t look generic and isn’t a wasted opportunity to create something new?’
“There is so much of architecture that is unseen. How do you create independent structures without seeing the others? How do you ensure that the overlay and the master plan work harmoniously?
‘Visual corridors and all those elements, all those components of decision making are highly appreciated, but they are not often thought about.’
Lex Fridman’s three-hour interview didn’t delve into the project’s downsides, but instead explored Ivanka’s thoughts on her father’s court battles and her reasons for stepping away from the Trump 2024 campaign to explore new projects and “live her best life.”
Sazan, the largest of Albania’s islands, was once considered a naval stronghold by former Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, who mused during a visit in 1959: “From here I could control the Mediterranean as far as Gibraltar.”
Since the fall of communism, it remained a designated military exclusion zone, but was finally opened to the public in 2015.
Construction and real estate are like a giant puzzle and I love puzzles.
Today it forms the outer perimeter of the Karaburun-Sazan Marine Park, a specially protected area for birds and wildlife.
Plans to build a luxury resort linked to Trump have not gone unchallenged in Albania, where autocratic Prime Minister Edi Rama has been criticised for giving the green light to tourism development in protected areas.
Ivanka and Jared were photographed with Rama on a visit to Albania last summer, where local media said they visited the House of Leaves, a former KGB spy facility that is now a museum dedicated to victims of communism.
Fridman’s three-hour interview didn’t delve into the project’s downsides, but instead explored Ivanka’s thoughts on her father’s court battles and her reasons for stepping away from the Trump 2024 campaign to explore new projects and “live her best life.”
Ivanka, the former president’s second daughter, was previously executive vice president of the Trump Organization and a boardroom judge on his show, The Apprentice.
The businesswoman and former model became a senior advisor to the Trump administration, where she served as Director of the Office of Economic Initiatives and Entrepreneurship.
Ivanka has no plans to return to politics, she reaffirmed during her appearance on the podcast
Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner at a friend’s wedding in Mexico in May. The couple moved from New York to Florida
Jared, another senior Trump adviser from 2017 to 2021, founded the private equity firm Affinity Partners after leaving politics.
The company has accumulated assets totaling $3.1 billion, of which about $2 billion comes from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.
Sazan is reportedly one of several sites in the Balkans where Affinity and its backers want to build luxury resorts as the region enjoys an economic revival.
According to Forbes, the Albanian peninsula of Zvernec has been chosen as a possible location for building 10,000 units of villas and hotel rooms.
Talks are also underway to build 1,500 homes and a hotel in an abandoned neighbourhood that housed the former Yugoslavia’s defence ministry building before it was bombed by NATO in 1999.
Earlier this year, Kushner defended his overseas business dealings and ties to Middle Eastern moneymen during a summit in Miami sponsored by media company Axios, insisting his approach to business was ethical and legal.
“If you ask me about the work we did in the White House, I would tell my critics to point to one decision we made that was not in the interest of the United States,” Kushner added.
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