You may have heard that Andrew Cuomo is running for mayor.
Speculation swirled for months around Cuomo’s possible run, and which turned into a certainty as top officials left the Adams administration last month and calls on Mayor Eric Adams to resign piled up.
The former governor, who resigned in 2021 following the release of a report by the state Attorney General that accused him of sexually harassing 11 women, launched his campaign for mayor via a 17-minute video on Saturday, and then in-person at the New York City District Council of Carpenters headquarters on Sunday.
The event was packed and after Cuomo spoke, he was rushed by audience members and members of the press. At one point, so many people had climbed on top of the small stage that Kevin Elkins, political director for the carpenters who has an unspecified role with Cuomo’s campaign, shouted that everyone needed to get off before it collapsed.
On Monday, Cuomo’s campaign released affordability-focused proposals, including some housing goals. Details are sparse: He wants to build more affordable and workforce housing, and ramp up infill development on public housing properties.
“Permitting and regulatory processes will be streamlined, building codes reviewed for efficiency, and zoning reforms targeted for maximum impact,” the agenda states. The effectiveness of such steps, of course, depends on what they actually entail.
Notably, the proposals don’t mention any requirements for hiring union construction workers to build the housing. On Sunday, Cuomo called for the construction of thousands of housing units, and said they would, of course, be built union. (Elkin took to X after Sen. Zellnor Myrie released his own housing plan to criticize the lack of labor standards.)
The campaign also points to policies that are outside the city’s authority, including the property tax break 485x and 467m (an incentive provided for office-to-residential) conversions. Cuomo said he wants to “collaborate with the state and developers to increase the number of units built” under these programs.
The state controls these tax breaks. As Cuomo demonstrated when he was governor and Mayor Bill de Blasio’s attempted to pitch a new version of 421a — the mayor’s ability to shape policy at the state level is limited and can be further diminished if his relationship with the governor has soured.
Developers have also said that the construction wage requirements for 485x projects of a certain size and location will lead to fewer housing units being built. The carpenters’ union, meanwhile, wants those requirements to apply more widely. In other words, changes to 485x threaten to alienate developers or construction unions.
Still, in a statement on Saturday, Jim Whelan, president of the Real Estate Board of New York, said he was hopeful that Cuomo’s campaign would elevate discussion around public safety, housing, taxes and other key issues.
Not everyone in the industry is enthusiastic about Cuomo.
“It’s mind boggling to me that people in the industry are supporting this guy,” said broker and landlord Ben Carlos Thypin. He pointed to Cuomo’s refusal to block the passage of the 2019 rent law and his insistence that construction unions help shape the future of 421a and its successor programs.
He added that despite these betrayals, folks in the industry are likely fearful that if they don’t support Cuomo and he is ultimately elected, he could say, kill their rezonings, or otherwise negatively affect their projects.
We’re still more than three months away from the June primary. We’ll keep you posted on the candidates and their real estate-related priorities.
What we’re thinking about: What land use changes would you like to see come out of the city’s Charter Revision Commission? Send a note to kathryn@therealdeal.com.
A thing we’ve learned: The first project to qualify for the city’s “Green Fast Track for Housing,” is a 53-unit senior housing project at 1946 East Seventh Street in Brooklyn, the City was the first to report. The program allows certain housing projects (those that use electric heating and have 175 or fewer units, if located in a low-density district; or 250 or fewer units, if within medium- or high-density areas) to bypass environmental review.
Elsewhere in New York…
— U.S. Reps. Ritchie Torres and Nydia Velázquez on Monday blamed federal “chaos” for delays in Section 8 rental assistance payments, Gothamist reports. “The threat of funding freezes, separate and apart from the reality of them, creates massive uncertainty that destabilizes critical programs like Section 8,” Torres told Gothamist. ”Uncertainty carries its own costs.” The New York City Housing Authority posted a notice on its website alerting landlords that it will process payments to landlords within one business day of receiving funding from the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
— Reps. Jamie Raskin of Maryland and Jasmine Crockett of Texas, respectively ranking members of the House Judiciary Committee and oversight subcommittee, are launching an investigation into the Department of Justice’s efforts to dismiss corruption charges against Mayor Eric Adams, Politico New York reports. “Last month, troubling reports emerged about the Trump Administration’s demand that federal prosecutors move to dismiss the serious public corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams as part of a blatant and illegal quid pro quo to secure the Mayor’s loyal assistance in executing the Trump Administration’s mass arrest and deportation policies,” the House Democrats wrote in a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Closing Time
Residential: The priciest residential sale Monday was for a condo unit for $19.5 million at 56 Leonard Street. The new-construction condo in Tribeca is 3,700 square feet. Compass’s The Hudson Advisory Team has the listing.
Commercial: The most expensive commercial closing of the day was $4.9 million for a multifamily building at 294 Degraw Street in Carroll Gardens. The three-story building is 4,200 square feet and was listed by Triumph Property Group’s Blake Dinour and Anna Callegari.
New to the Market: The highest price for a residential property hitting the market was $29.8 million for a co-op unit at 895 Park Avenue. The Upper East Side co-op triplex has over 6,000 square feet of interior space. Coldwell Banker Warburg’s Robert Schulman, Frederick Warburg Peters and Samantha Rose Frith have the listing.
Breaking Ground: The largest new building application filed was for a 18,095-square-foot, five-story residential building at 18-28 Avenue, Brooklyn. The Gravesend property is proposed to have 10,000 square feet allocated to residential with 12 or more units, per Yimby. Shiming Tam of SM Tam Architect is the applicant of record. — Joseph Jungermann