Yay Yimby, no bad landlords.
On Tuesday, successive announcements produced these two messages. Mamdani’s administration announced the dates for the five hearings on rental fraud and then appeared at a rally to celebrate Governor Kathy Hochul’s “Let Them Build” agenda in support of her proposal to reform the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA).
During the press conference, Mamdani lamented the years that environmental analysis can dictate a project’s timeline.
“Two years just to go through the environmental review of the project,” Mamdani said. “After that you can’t even start building. Only then can the actual approval process begin.”
He went on to say that the governor’s proposal — which would exempt certain housing projects of up to 500 units from environmental review — will allow the city to build more housing, which will drive down rents.
While this was a welcome message for housing developers, property owners were wary of another message from the mayor.
The mayor spoke just before this press conference posted a flyer on
Kenny Burgos of the New York Apartment Association, who complimented According to the mayor’s comments on housing, the hearings will be “all show and no substance.”
“I think we’re all fed up with elected officials who focus more on splashy events rather than actually improving people’s lives,” he said in a statement.
The twin announcements include the convergence of pro-housing development and pro-tenant policies.
In general, Yimby groups have been doing that more and more included to include more pro-tenant policies in their legislative priorities. (Open New York supported 485x, but also evictions for charities, for example in 2024.)
This may have helped make coverage of housing reform more palatable to people on the left. In recent years, we’ve seen progressive New York elected officials support housing expansion as the solution to the city’s shortage, embracing a pro-development message without necessarily coming across as pro-developer. Tuesday’s rally showed the trend has reached new highs. A Democratic Socialist gave full support to a proposal aimed at destroying a major weapon against New York’s housing development: lawsuits seeking to overturn rezonings or annul project approvals based on allegations that the accompanying environmental review was illegal.
Wednesday’s rally also showed the growing influence of pro-development groups like Open New York. Executive director Annemarie Gray, who was the only speaker besides Mamdani and Hochul, said SEQRA has been weaponized by wealthy Nimbys.
Real estate is often lumped in with one big bad guy, sometimes eliminating policies that would benefit the larger pro-housing movement. The fact that SEQRA has such momentum signals a shift in that thinking when it comes to residential construction. For property managers and owners, the conversation is not about making their jobs easier, but about cracking down on bad actors in their midst.
What we think about: Wednesday was “tin cup” day in Albany. During an hours-long back-and-forth with state lawmakers, Mayor Zohran Mamdani shared two anecdotes about a conversation with a New York millionaire and a meeting with a real estate executive. In the first, he said he had spoken to a millionaire who claimed he would leave New York if his taxes were raised. Mamdani said that when he told this person that the tax increase he is seeking is 2 percent – $20,000 for someone making $1 million a year – the high earner acknowledged that he would not leave.
Mamdani also said he met a real estate executive who told him that much of his company’s value depends on the work of City Hall. Who was the mysterious millionaire and real estate leader? Send a message to kathryn@therealdeal.com.
Something we learned: Jonathan Miller, an appraiser reporters have on speed dial, will no longer write reports for Douglas Elliman after 32 years. He announced on Wednesday that he and the real estate agency are parting ways.
Elsewhere in New York….
– During a joint hearing on the legislative budget on Wednesday, Sherif Soliman, director of the Mayor’s Office of Management and Budget, indicated that the administration is working on a bill to be submitted to the state to reform the city’s property tax system. Soliman said the proposal would build on recommendations from the 2021 report of the city’s Property Tax Reform Advisory Committee, of which he was executive director. One of those recommendations would be to abolish estimated value growth limits. Last year, Mayor Eric Adams similarly told lawmakers that the city was working on a proposal to reform the city’s property tax system.
— Mamdani also provided an updated estimate of the city’s budget deficit for the next two years. This amounts to 7 billion dollars instead of the initially announced 12 billion dollars. The mayor said the forecast was adjusted after taking into account Wall Street bonuses and income tax revenues. However, the change did not change the mayor’s views on raising taxes on the city’s wealthiest and on corporations.
Closing time
Residential: The highest housing deal recorded on Wednesday was $24.8 million for a 3,364-square-foot condominium unit at 15 Central Park West on the Upper West Side. Cathy Franklin, Alexis Bodenheimer and Shannon Suydam with Corcoran had the mention.
Commercial: The best recorded commercial deal was $24.1 million for a 30,000-square-foot, 30-unit apartment complex at 335 Carroll Street in Carroll Gardens. Mack Real Estate sold the property to GDC Properties.
New on the market: The highest price for a home that came on the market was $25 million for a 2,156-square-foot single-family home at 18 East 62nd Street in Lenox Hill. Abraham Sarway with Douglas Elliman has the entry.
Groundbreaking: The largest new building permit submitted was for a proposed nine-story, 56-unit residential project at 11 Cornelia Street in Bushwick. Nikolai Katz filed the permit on behalf of Shimon Greenfeld of SCG Capital.
— Matthew Elo
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