The real estate industry continues to take sides in the contested mayoral race, leading prominent developers to gather behind closed doors on Tuesday morning.
Related Companies’ Jeff Blau and his wife sent an email on Monday evening calling for a gathering at the Seagram Building the next morning, the New York Times reported. The alert said the recipients “must act decisively to ensure that the next mayor of New York is Andrew Cuomo.”
RFR’s Aby Rosen, who owns the Seagram Building, was among the signees for the email. It’s unclear what other developers could be involved in the proceedings, which appear designed to jumpstart a larger effort to keep Zohran Mamdani away from Gracie Mansion.
“While billionaires continue to panic and scheme behind closed doors, our campaign is mobilizing tens of thousands of New Yorkers to get involved in the democratic process and rally around an agenda to make this city affordable,” a spokesperson for the Mamdani campaign told the Times.
Despite being blown out by Mamdani in the Democratic primary, Cuomo is emerging as the top choice against the Democratic Socialist as incumbent Eric Adams considers opportunities to suspend his re-election campaign. He has reportedly been approached by the Trump administration, potentially for an ambassadorship to a country in the Middle East.
Meetings don’t appear to be the only way Blau is trying to influence the election. The New York Daily News reported that Related has also offered Adams a seven-figure job in “global security” as an off-ramp from his current mayoral bid. Despite both alleged job offers, Adams has maintained that he is staying in the race.
But in a statement to The Real Deal, Related denied that any job had been floated to the mayor.
“Related has never offered Mayor Eric Adams employment or any position — paid or unpaid — at any point in time, and has no intention of doing so,” said a spokesperson for Related. “Reports to the contrary are categorically false.”
Cuomo will need plenty of support to overcome the scandal-ridden end to his governorship, not to mention an electorate that reliably leans towards the candidate running on the Democratic party line.
But while real estate’s heavyweights look for a candidate to coalesce around, industry figures are also gathering around Mamdani, playing the odds of his victory. Kenny Burgos of the New York Apartment Association is directly speaking to Mamdani, he told the Wall Street Journal, while MSquared’s Alicia Glen organized a dinner in July to discuss how the housing industry can work with the candidate.
Affordable housing developers are among those to adopt a warming sentiment towards Mamdani, encouraged by a promise to beef up the city’s housing agency and increase capital for housing construction. They stand in sharp contrast to rent-stabilized owners, who live in fear of Mamdani’s pledge to freeze rents for four years.
Among those to contribute to Mamdani’s campaign are Beachwold Residential CEO Gideon Friedman and Hudson Companies’ Joseph Riggs.
This article has been updated with a statement from Related.
— Holden Walter-Warner
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