The Democratic primary is here.
Over the last few weeks, I’ve posed the same five real estate-related questions to the mayoral candidates and featured their answers in this newsletter.
The series featured Sen. Zellnor Myrie, Assembly member Zohran Mamdani, Comptroller Brad Lander, former Comptroller Scott Stringer, City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and former Assembly member Michael Blake.
I did not receive a response to repeated requests for an interview with former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, nor to a request back in April to speak more broadly about housing priorities.
Still, he is the front-runner of the race, and is the real estate industry’s top pick for mayor (the industry has donated millions of dollars to a Cuomo-tied super PAC, Fix the City).
So here’s what I got:
Cuomo’s housing plan, which got a lot of press because of the involvement of ChatGPT, calls for the construction and preservation of 500,000 units over the next 10 years and the creation of a $5 billion capital fund to finance housing over the next five years. He also wants to add the Department of Buildings to the purview of the deputy mayor of housing, economic development and workforce.
During the first mayoral debate, he said the next mayor needs to “blow up” the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, saying the agency needed to be retooled to create more volume. It is unclear what that entails, though Cuomo has voiced support for a workforce housing model championed by the Adams administration and building trades.
Though my five questions went unanswered by the former governor, I have another five that I think will persist if Cuomo secures the nomination and then, if he ultimately wins in November:
Can he convince Albany to reform the property tax break 485x in a way that addresses concerns raised by real estate developers? And if so, how does he do that without alienating another group of supporters, construction unions? Developers have pointed to the 485x construction wage requirements as a key problem in the program.
Speaking of which, how will he balance the interests of construction unions and developers? He has suggested that affordable housing under his plan will be union-built. How will that sit with the private sector, which has long argued that mandating union-level construction wages leads to fewer housing units?
Cuomo has said that aspects of the 2019 rent law, which he signed as governor, went too far. Can he convince state lawmakers to roll back some of these provisions? Absent that, will he put pressure on the Rent Guidelines Board to make up for the lack of ways owners can increase rents on stabilized apartments?
Cuomo’s housing plan indicates that he does not support zoning changes to ramp up housing construction in low-density neighborhoods “at least until the impact of recent rezoning efforts are absorbed in these areas.” How would he ramp up housing construction citywide while avoiding low-density districts?
What we’re thinking about: The Adams administration has jettisoned plans for housing at the Elizabeth Street Garden. This project has had an extraordinary journey: It was proposed more than a decade ago, approved by the City Council in 2019 and then held up for years by litigation. The city received approval to evict the garden to build 123 senior housing units, only to reverse course and prioritize three other rezonings instead. I have many outstanding questions about this arrangement, but a big one is, what will this mean for future development teams looking to partner with the city? Will the risk seem too great? Send a note to kathryn@therealdeal.com.
A thing we’ve learned: Toll Brothers is in contract to buy 118 10th Avenue in Chelsea for $53 million. The long-vacant site near the High Line was once owned by the late Brandon Miller, my colleague Elizabeth Cryan reports.
Elsewhere in New York…
— Compared to four years ago, more than double the number of New Yorkers voted early in the primary election this year, Gothamist reports. During the nine days of early voting, 385,184 people cast their ballots. Many of those voters, nearly a quarter, had not voted in any Democratic primary between 2012 and 2024.
— Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo told Politico New York that he thinks the state should ramp up spending on rental subsidies for homeless New Yorkers. As governor, Cuomo slashed state funding in 2011 to a rental voucher program known as Advantage, leading to the program’s demise. When asked about the move, Cuomo told Politico that the move was “100 years ago.”
Closing Time
Residential: The top residential deal recorded Monday was $39.5 million for a condo unit at 217 West 57th. Extell’s Central Park Tower unit is 7,000 square feet and sold at a discount from its last sale in January 2025 for $45 million.
Commercial: The top commercial deal recorded was $15.5 million for apartment buildings at 506 West 166th Street and 2101-2134 Amsterdam Avenue in Manhattan. McKenna Square Associates is the seller.
New to the Market: The highest price for a residential property hitting the market was $9 million for a condo unit at 390 West End Avenue. The duplex unit at The Apthorp on the Upper West Side is 4,000 square feet. Douglas Elliman has the listing.
Breaking Ground: The largest new building application filed was for a proposed 47,379-square-foot, 10-story residential building at 165 Beach 115th Street in Queens. Fariba Makooi of Fischer + Makooi Architects is the applicant of record.
— Joseph Jungermann
