Real Estate is Watching These City Council Primary Elections

It’s payback time.

The Democratic primary elections this month offer a chance to reward or punish City Council candidates for their positions on controversial real estate issues. And power players are not missing the opportunity.

Real estate groups are helping some incumbents as new district lines and ranked choice voting puts them at risk of losing on June 27. Early voting begins Saturday.

The 51 City Council members are crucial for developers because they control the fate of projects that require rezoning or a special permit, as many large ones do. The full Council typically follows the lead of the local member on land use votes.

That’s why construction unions, including the New York City District Council of Carpenters and the Mason Tenders District Council, have thrown their support behind Bronx incumbent Marjorie Velázquez. The rookie member supported a Bruckner Boulevard rezoning to allow a development that union workers will build.

Velázquez initially did not back the 348-apartment project but reversed her position after reaching a deal with the developer that included a promise to hire union labor for construction and building services.

“It comes down to the simple question of, are they in favor of not just any development, but responsible development?” said Kevin Elkins, political director for the carpenters’ union.

A group of unions dubbed the Labor Strong Coalition, which includes the 32BJ SEIU, the Hotel Trades Council, DC37, the New York State Nurses Association and the Communications Workers of America, has endorsed Velázquez.

The coalition supports several other incumbents, including Bronx member Pierina Sanchez, who chairs the Committee on Housing and Buildings, Brooklyn’s Justin Brannan, Queens’ Linda Lee and Speaker Adrienne Adams, who emerged as a fierce advocate for housing after failing to save a large Harlem project.

The group has spent nearly $300,000 on ads supporting its candidates.

Brannan, who barely fended off a challenge from Republican Brian Fox in 2021, faces Democrat-turned-Republican Council member Ari Kagan in the general election.

Lobbyist Jeffrey Leb, who has raised millions of dollars from the real estate industry in previous campaigns, plans a $100,000 campaign to support Lee’s re-election, the New York Daily News reports.

Queens comeuppance

The Labor Strong Coalition did not endorse in Queens Council District 26, where incumbent Julie Won is battling tenant organizer Hailie Kim in the Democratic primary. Won’s initial opposition to Innovation QNS, a 3,200-unit project planned in Astoria, caused a rift with 32BJ, according to the City.

Some unions in the coalition, including the carpenters, have separately backed Won, however. Elkins called her a “tough negotiator” who has “thrown down on behalf of her constituents.”

“That’s the dynamic she has brought to this district that we think has been missing for a very long time,” he said.

Challengers in some races are trying to take on incumbents by using ranked choice voting to their advantage. Moderate candidates Susan Lee and Ursila Jung, vying for Christopher Marte’s seat in Lower Manhattan, told NY1 that they are in talks to list each other as second choice in the ranked choice voting.

Marte has clashed with developers over the years. He opposed the Soho/Noho rezoning and signed onto a lawsuit challenging the development of four apartment towers in Two Bridges.

Real estate PACs wade in

Jobs for New York, the Real Estate Board of New York’s Super Pac, paid more than $18,000 for ads supporting Council member Francisco Moya. The ads applaud Moya for “leading the charge to redevelop Willets Point,” referring to plans which include a 25,000-seat soccer stadium and 2,500 affordable apartments in the Queens neighborhood.

Though Moya no longer has an opponent in the primary, with Hiram Monserreate off the ballot, even needless spending sends a message to members that their actions on real estate matters have ramifications. A REBNY source told City & State that backing Moya was a “no brainer.”

Through a separate PAC, the group has also backed several incumbents, including Brannan and Rafael Salamanca, who chairs the land use committee.

The Rent Stabilization Association’s PAC has donated this election cycle to incumbents Velázquez; Queens’ James Gennaro, a moderate who defeated a far-left challenger in 2021; conservative Democrat Kalman Yeger of Brooklyn; and far-right Republican Vickie Paladino in Queens.

“RSA supports candidates who are sensitive to both sides of the aisle when it comes to affordable housing issues — and who understand the struggles of building owners and recognize the value in bringing the largest providers of affordable housing to the table to collaborate on real solutions,” RSA’s Joseph Strasburg said in a statement.

What would have been the biggest referendum on development this election will not happen: Harlem incumbent Kristin Richardson Jordan decided last month not to seek a second term.

Jordan had killed Bruce Teitelbaum’s 917-unit project One45, deeming its historically robust affordable housing component to be insufficient. But the competition for her seat remains fierce and still involves housing.

Assembly members Al Taylor and Inez Dickens and first-time candidate Yusef Salaam, one of the Central Park Exonerated Five, are vying for the Democratic nomination, which is tantamount to victory.

They have all voiced support for One45, which Teitelbaum has revived. But tenant advocates have accused Dickens, who owns rental property in the district, of helping to kill efforts in Albany to enact good cause eviction.

Pro-housing group Open New York endorsed Salaam, citing his support of pro-housing zoning reform and good cause. Logan Phares, Open New York’s political director, said inaction on housing at the state level makes support for housing initiatives even more imperative in the city.

“We need to make sure that our housing champions who are in the Council do not lose their seats and that we have more housing champions in the Council,” she said. The group has also endorsed incumbents Carlina Rivera, Keith Powers, Shaun Abreu, Sanchez and Erik Bottcher.

Bottcher pulled off a rare political 180, transforming from an opponent of housing development to a supporter. Rivera was a key supporter of the Soho/Noho rezoning.