One day after Zohran Mamdani was elected New York’s mayor, JLL fired a top commercial broker who compared the politician to Adolf Hitler and said he did not wish to hear Islamic prayers at City Hall year-round.
Scott Panzer was fired Wednesday after he responded to an office-wide email encouraging the employees to find ways to work with the new mayor for the betterment of the city, two sources confirmed to The Real Deal.
Peter Riguardi, president of JLL’s New York office, sent an email earlier in the day sharing his thoughts on things like rent control, working with Donald Trump and free buses.
He concluded by calling for people to come together in the spirit of unity.
“He is our mayor,” Rigaurdi wrote. “The only good thing we can do right now is give him a chance to lead and maybe for those of us who doubt him, he will surprise us.”
Panzer responded to the email chain, thanking Rigurdi for his views and offering what he called “an opposing perspective.”
“Is it just me, or does this sound eerily similar to what much of Germany and Europe said about you know who back in 1938?” he wrote. “We all know how that worked out for them — and for the world.”
In 1938, Time Magazine named Hitler “Man of the Year,” identifying him as “the newsmaker who most influenced world events for better or worse.”
Panzer went on: “I will just throw one more provocative comment out here — while in Istanbul on holiday I didn’t mind hearing the adhan five times a day for the few days I was there — I would not want that to be a 365 day event,” Panzer wrote, referring to the Islamic call to prayer. “But alas, this too is just around the corner for NYC.”
Riguardi intended his email to bring JLL’s employees together, according to people familiar with the incident, and was angered by Panzer’s inflammatory response.
Panzer was fired later in the afternoon. A source indicated that the comments, viewed as Islamophobic, were the reason for the firing.
Panzer did not return a request for comment.
“We can confirm Scott Panzer is no longer with JLL. The views and sentiment expressed in his email do not align with our company’s culture and shared values,” said a JLL spokesperson.
Panzer is one of the top office leasing brokers in the city. At one time, he oversaw leasing at Sheldon Solow’s 9 West 57th Street.
One day after Mamdani’s win, real estate executives struck a cautiously optimistic tone, focusing on elements of the mayor-elect’s agenda where they see common ground, including his commitment to build more affordable housing.
Still, others fear the effect of his promise to freeze rents for stabilized apartments for four years, with one landlord group saying the move would result in nothing short of “affordable housing Armageddon.”
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