By Caleb Melby & Scott Deveau @ Bloomberg.com, Aug. 4

The Kushners have found their out -- and it comes at a price.

The family firm of presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner will be relieved of the biggest drag on its real estate empire, will no longer face a $1.2 billion debt payment due in months, will be rid of having to overhaul an aging property. But in return, they’ve given up control of the trophy New York tower that was meant to be their crown jewel.

Brookfield Asset Management Inc.’s deal for a 99-year lease at 666 Fifth Ave., the Midtown building purchased by Kushner Cos. at the height of the last real estate boom, gives the Canadian giant ownership of the tower in every way but the deed. It will invest $700 million to fulfill what had been the Kushners’ dream of turning the property into a world-class skyscraper in the heart of Manhattan’s premier office district. The Kushner family will have to watch from the sidelines [....]