Developer Jonathan Landau says it’s a “damn good time to be building in New York City”.
The Real Deal’s 2025 New York City Showcase + Forum came as demand for housing continues to outpace supply, rents are climbing to record highs and new condos, especially in the city’s most desirable neighborhoods, are trading like wildfire in the face of a waning pipeline.
“I heard about another project on the West Side. I’m not going to mention it because it’s not my project. They opened up with about half a billion dollars of sales in the first 30 days,” Landau said on a development panel, apparently referencing Zeckendorf Development and Atlas Capital Group’s luxury project at 80 Clarkson Street in the West Village. “From a condo perspective, there’s no competitive product.”
Despite uncertainty over tariffs and other policies set by President Donald Trump’s administration, developers on the forum stage said they’re doubling down on their projects in the city, buoyed by tax incentives and a pro-housing attitude shift among politicians.
“This is the first time that I’ve noticed that every mayoral candidate is supportive of creating more housing,” said MaryAnne Gilmartin, CEO and founder of MAG Partners. “There is a mandate now to create more housing for the life of the city.”
Gilmartin praised Mayor Eric Adams’ City of Yes, a rezoning package passed by the City Council in November geared toward boosting the housing supply across the five boroughs.
The law, which included the removal of parking mandates in some areas, is intended to deliver roughly 80,000 housing units over the next 15 years, though that number is 20,000 shy of the legislation’s initial target before it was watered down by city legislators.
City of Yes is “one of the most consequential pieces of rezoning legislation that has been done at the city level in the history of my being in the business,” Gilmartin said.
The developer noted that her company is also leaning on the state’s 485x tax break, a measure passed last April designed to encourage affordable housing construction.
The incentive was the state’s answer to the expired 421a, though many in the industry have criticized the program for preventing developers from building bigger projects due to a wage scale for developments with more than 99 units.
Metro Loft’s Nathan Berman said City of Yes and the city’s 467m abatement are powering his firm’s big bet on office-to-residential conversions, including the Pfizer building, which is considered the largest conversion project in the country.
Together, the law and the incentive “probably quadrupled the viability of conversions in the city,” said Berman, who previously eschewed tax exemptions to build market-rate housing. “The city hit the bullseye with this combination.”
Berman has faced some pushback over his company’s practices, including at the forum, where two audience members unrolled a sign reading “Metro Loft allows worker exploitation” after the panel.
Though city lawmakers appear to be more open to pushing for housing construction, Gilmartin said she’s not holding out hope that the federal government will roll out its own set of incentives. She also noted that the Trump administration’s focus on rolling back sustainable energy mandates is creating some uncertainty for developers, who aren’t sure whether the shift back to fossil fuels will continue after the president’s term.
The developers agreed that tariffs, at least in the short term, aren’t hindering development.
“Labor is the largest cost for conversions,” Berman said. “Overall, the tariffs will be an insignificant blip.”
Landau added that the tariffs allow for some flexibility. Materials such as marble and windows can be sourced from Europe, South America or China but fabricated in the U.S. to avoid the brunt of the tariff costs.
Tariffs are “not a big deal to us right now,” Landau said. “If [they’re] sustained over time or for whatever reason, the tariffs on Europe and South America are increased, that will be a point that you need to discuss.”
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