Jared Kushner's New York Observer has always been heavily reliant on real estate advertising. It's been hurt as much as anyone by the collapse of the real estate market. So Kushner is launching a new real estate paper. What?

That is correct! Kushner's launching The Commercial Observer, a free weekly trade-y paper focused on the NYC commercial real estate market, next month. Figure this one out:

The Commercial Observer, with 24 to 28 pages an issue, will be delivered free to 10,000 people in the city's real estate business. The new paper will sell subscriptions for $240 a year, and it may eventually charge industry insiders, as well, Mr. Kusher said, but "what I care about most is that the right people are getting it." There will be no newsstand sales.

The NYO itself had serious layoffs recently. The real estate trade publication niche is already crowded. And yet NYO execs tell the Times they will "avoid cannibalizing" the NYO's own remaining advertising, somehow. We've emailed Kushner's rep to find out how they plan to do that, and whether this new venture is more of an editorial or advertorial thing. But uh, if this thing works out we will acknowledge Jared Kushner's hidden media genius. It's possible he knows something we don't! He is already much richer than us.
[Pic: Getty]