The complaint and suggestion departments are open.
Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani held a closed-door meeting Tuesday with members of the Association for a Better New York and the Partnership for New York City. There, he reassured developers, lenders and investors that he is always open to hearing from them.
“I [assured] that my door to their feedback, their concerns and into identifying areas of collaboration will always remain open,” he said during a press conference after the meeting.
The meeting was initiated by the mayor-elect’s transition team, which also scheduled a meeting with homeless advocates later on Tuesday. At the press conference, Mamdani said ABNY CEO Emma Pfohman, the Partnership’s outgoing CEO and President Kathy Wylde and its incoming head, Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop, helped organize the meeting.
Roughly 20 people met with the mayor-elect Tuesday morning, including Rob Speyer, CEO of Tishman Speyer and chair of the Partnership; Nadeem Meghji, global co-head of real estate at Blackstone; Priscilla Almodovar, former CEO of Fannie Mae; Jed Walentas, CEO of Two Trees and chair of the Real Estate Board of New York; Carlina Rivera, a former City Council member who recently took the helm New York State Association for Affordable Housing; and Asahi Pompey, chair of the urban investment group at Goldman Sachs, according to Wylde.
Tenant organizer Cea Weaver, who has advised Mamdani on housing policy, was also in attendance.
Mamdani began the meeting by citing a comment he made to the New York Times in June, that his view on the private market’s role in housing construction had evolved, and he now recognizes the “very important” part it plays.
The meeting then touched on a number of issues that Mamdani broached at a previous meeting with the Partnership, including his pledge to freeze rents for stabilized tenants for four years and his support for overhauling the city’s property tax system.
“I spoke not only about my continued commitment to freeze the rent for more than two million rent-stabilized tenants, but also my commitment to asking and understanding the roadblocks that they have faced in building more housing across the city and how we can ensure deeper levels of affordability, how we can partner in advocating for the resources this city deserves from the federal administration,” Mamdani said at the press conference.
He said he spoke to attendees about the importance of reducing the time it takes to lease up affordable housing units. It wasn’t immediately clear if he was speaking specifically about units set aside for formerly homeless individuals, but the median time to lease up such units was 235 days in fiscal year 2025, according to the Mayor’s Management Report.
When asked about four pending City Council bills that would add new requirements to city-funded housing, Mamdani didn’t take a position. Housing groups have warned City Council that passing the measures, which Wylde said did not come up during the meeting, would significantly increase the cost of building housing and lead to fewer units being built.
“My focus is on building as much housing as we can across the city, and I will stay in conversation with the City Council on the proposals they put forward,” Mamdani said.
Wylde said the group discussed the need to fund renovations of rent-stabilized apartments that are being kept off the market, though no specific ideas emerged. Still, she felt the meeting was “very constructive.”
“He was taking notes the whole meeting,” Wylde said. “I think he was listening and was very interested in what everyone had to say.”
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