Sometimes it’s hard to be in real estate, giving all your money to just one mayoral candidate.
Especially when that candidate loses.
The real estate industry rallied behind former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, viewing him as the best chance of avoiding a democratic-socialist landing in Gracie Mansion. That turned out to be a miscalculation, as Assembly member Zohran Mamdani secured enough of a lead that Cuomo conceded the Democratic nomination to the 33-year-old Tuesday night.
Cuomo has said that he will review the remaining ranked-choice voting tabulations before deciding his next move, leaving the door open to running in the general election as an independent. But some think Cuomo will call it quits.
That leads to a big open question: Who will the real estate industry support?
“I would expect Cuomo is going to leave the race, and I would expect folks are going to support Eric Adams,” one leader in the real estate industry said on the condition of anonymity.
Adams was once an industry favorite, someone who unabashedly praised real estate developers and pledged to make it easier for them to build in the city. After nabbing the Democratic nomination in 2021, Adams raised more than $500,000 from the real estate industry during the runup to the election.
But the federal corruption charges against the mayor, followed by the departure of key administration leaders, proved too destabilizing, even after the Trump administration dismissed the charges. Real estate quickly coalesced around Cuomo after he launched his campaign in March.
But now Adams, who is running as an independent and is expected to launch his re-election campaign on Thursday, may look like their best bet. Their other non-Mamdani options include Republican Curtis Sliwa and attorney Jim Walden, who is also running as an independent.
Real estate leaders haven’t given Adams a full-throated endorsement just yet, but they clearly aren’t happy with the alternative.
New York Apartment Association CEO Kenny Burgos said his organization, which formed a super PAC that spent $2.3 million on ads supporting Cuomo, will support whatever candidate is focused on the independence of the city’s Rent Guidelines Board and helping owners of distressed rent-stabilized buildings. Mamdani has promised to use his influence as mayor to freeze rents for stabilized tenants during his first term.
“It can’t be understated what’s at stake here,” Burgos said. “The threat of a rent freeze, the threat of the demise of the rent stabilized rental stock is very real.”
He said the organization is figuring out its general election strategy.
“Everything is on the table from now until November,” he said.
The Real Estate Board of New York’s super PAC focused on City Council races, supporting challengers to far-left incumbents (most of the incumbents, riding Mamdani’s progressive wave, still won their races). Many of the super PAC’s members, however, backed Cuomo.
“Based on candidates’ campaign platforms, in November voters will need to choose between practical or fanciful and extreme ways to continue the drop in crime, build much necessary housing and create good jobs,” REBNY President Jim Whelan said in a statement. “REBNY will continue to focus on data-driven policy analyses and proposals and urge candidates to do the same.”
Burgos said Mamdani’s focus on affordability resonated with New Yorkers and that Cuomo should have adopted a similar multimedia, ground-level approach to campaigning.
Ben Carlos Thypin, CEO of the real estate brokerage Quantierra, thinks industry professionals fall into one of two camps: People who will back Adams or Sliwa for ideological reasons, and those who backed Cuomo “despite their better judgment” and are still trying to figure out their next move.
But he also thinks the industry could try working with Mamdani.
“If you take your ideological blinders off, Mamdani wants to spend an enormous amount of money on things, including affordable housing,” he said. “I think there is a path forward for collaboration here.”
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