If Mayor Zohran Mamdani doesn’t try to get the City Council to override Eric Adams’ veto of the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act, it would be news.
I say this because Mamdani has been a strong supporter of COPA and the equivalent bill in Albany, TOPA (Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act). The bills, which are strongly opposed by the real estate industry, would delay sales of multifamily buildings for months to give tenants and nonprofits a better chance to buy them.
At the time of writing, Mamdani is just a few votes away from being approved by the city council. COPA was passed with 30 votes and needs 34 to override the veto. (Eleven of the Council’s 51 members took office after the first vote.)
In theory, it shouldn’t be difficult for a popular new mayor who, after a resounding election victory — and successfully handling his first snowstorm — has flipped a few votes in the 51-member Council.
But Mamdani has many reasons not to even try COPA.
For starters, he doesn’t want to target the new Council President, Julie Menin, in the first month of their term. He just their relationship restored and will need her for the next four years. Menin abstained from the COPA vote in December and seems completely unmotivated to gather votes to override the veto.
Second, Mamdani’s base, including the Democratic Socialists of America, does not appear to be pushing for him to override the veto — even though COPA has been a DSA dream for some time.
DSA often advocates for ideological bills, but has enough sense not to demand that its handful of elected members fall on their swords in an attempt to pass them.
Third, there are racial and religious dynamics that Mamdani must be acutely aware of: City Council Member Darlene Mealy rallied opposition to COPA by arguing that it would be unfair to Black and Jewish landlords. That is a large part of the reason why the country failed to achieve a “veto-proof” majority of 34 votes.
Mamdani’s problems with conservative Jews are well documented and he has been criticized for not naming black deputy mayors. “It’s Become a Problem,” headlines the New York Times declared.
His failure to appoint a single black deputy mayor came despite his desire to shore up support in heavily black areas, where he received just 29 percent of Democratic primary votes last June. This wouldn’t be a good time for him to anger black and Jewish landlords, who are already furious about his call for a four-year freeze on stabilized rents and his upcoming “rent ripoff” hearings.
Fourth, if he tries to override the veto and fails, it would be a sign of political weakness, especially after he tried and failed to prevent Menen from becoming chairman. The prospects of a second defeat in two months would be poor, and it would make it harder for him to win other battles.
For these reasons, it appears that my colleague Kathryn Brenzel’s story on Monday was spot on: COPA is DOA.
What we’re thinking about: I misunderstood a sentence from a TRD This story means that Summit Properties is raising money on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange to purchase the Pinnacle portfolio. According to a Summit spokesperson, that is not the case. TASE’s disclosures about the Pinnacle deal were intended to provide transparency to potential investors in an unrelated Summit investment.
I was trying to estimate Summit’s potential return on investment for acquiring Pinnacle. To do that, one would divide its annual profit by the $112.8 million it contributes to the $451.3 million purchase. My rough calculation is 11 percent. Send your thoughts to eengquist@therealdeal.com.
Something we learned: Many apartment leases in Germany require tenants to open their windows several times a day, “even – or especially – in winter,” according to the Washington Post reported in a story about the practice, called lüften. “German courts have ruled that, without specific guidelines from the landlord, a tenant is obliged to open the windows twice a day, morning and evening, for ten minutes each.” The practice has spread to America via TikTok, where it is called ‘house burping’.
Elsewhere…
Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, perhaps the most pro-housing elected official in the city, shared this Gothamist that if a City Council member asks him to support the council’s rejection of new housing, “there has to be a scientific reason why you are either going to abandon the project or substantially reduce the number of units.”
Richards and the other borough presidents have become relevant again in land use approvals thanks to a revision to the city charter passed by voters in November.
Richards knows that when NIMBYs oppose a project or rezoning, their rationale is less scientific than emotional (fear of change) or financial (keeping housing scarce increases the value of their homes).
They often present a scientific reason, but it is not based on data, such as ‘the sewer system cannot cope’ or ‘the streets will become jammed’. Which makes it pseudoscience. Richards has no doubt noticed that ordinary citizens suddenly become infrastructure experts when faced with the prospect of new neighbors.
Closing time
Residential: The highest housing deal recorded on Tuesday was $24.3 million for a 4,997-square-foot condominium unit for sponsorship sale at 20 East 76th Street on the Upper East Side.
Commercial: The best recorded commercial deal was $8 million for a 17-unit apartment complex at 44 Perry Street in the West Village.
New on the market: The highest price for a home that came on the market was $10 million for an antebellum co-op at 820 Park Avenue in Lenox Hill. Daniella G. Schlisser, Justin J. Pak and Gigi Ozdemir with Brown Harris Stevens are credited.
Groundbreaking: The largest new building permit submitted was for a proposed 43,127-square-foot, 79-unit residential building at 9528 147th Place in Jamaica. Leandro Dickson submitted the permit on behalf of Herman Jacob.
— Matthew Elo
#Daily #Dirt #Mamdani #COPA #die