Just weeks after publicly stating she had no intention of following in her father’s footsteps, Ivanka Trump has seemingly had a change of heart—at least when it comes to real estate.
The 43-year-old daughter of President Donald Trump, who once served as a senior advisor during his first administration, made headlines earlier this year when she told Fox & Friends she was steering clear of politics to shield her three children from its “darkness,” alluding to the intense scrutiny and even danger that comes with public life—including the assassination attempt on her father last year.
“I love policy and impact. I hate politics,” she said at the time. “And unfortunately, the two are not separable. There is a darkness to that world that I don’t really want to welcome into mine. The main reason I am not going back to serve now is I know the cost, and it’s a price that I’m not willing to make my kids bear.”
Though Ivanka appears firm in her decision to stay out of Washington, she is now embracing another part of the Trump legacy: high-stakes real estate.
In a move that mirrors her father’s early career, Ivanka—alongside husband and fellow former White House advisor Jared Kushner—has launched plans to develop an ambitious luxury resort project on the Albanian island of Sazan, once home to an abandoned Soviet weapons base.
According to The New York Times, the couple is aiming to invest as much as $1.4 billion into transforming the 1,400-acre island into an ultra-exclusive getaway destination. The plan has already received preliminary approval from the Albanian government.
While this may be Ivanka and Jared’s first foray into luxury resort development, the Kushner family is no stranger to real estate. Jared, 44, comes from a lineage of developers, with holdings across New York in commercial, residential, and retail properties.
Still, this project marks a significant leap in scale and ambition. Not only does the island still contain buried and unexploded munitions, but the site itself is a relic of Cold War tensions—once a restricted military zone for the Soviet and Albanian regimes.
Ivanka’s team has expressed excitement over the opportunity. In a statement last year, her representatives said the development group was working with “the best architects and the best brands in the world” to turn the island into something “extraordinary.”
Albania’s president appeared enthusiastic as well. Speaking to The Guardian, he declared: “We can’t afford not to exploit a gift like Sazan. We need luxury tourism like a desert needs water.”
Though she’s steering clear of politics—for now—Ivanka’s pivot into high-profile development suggests that while she may have rejected the chaos of D.C., she hasn’t turned her back on ambition. Instead, she’s channeling her Trumpian instincts into reshaping an island—and perhaps redefining her own public legacy in the process.