When developer Don Peebles said on stage at The Real Deal’s New York Forum that Andrew Cuomo would be a mayor like Mike Bloomberg, I cringed a bit.
I’m sure Bloomberg’s people would have cringed, too, and not just because their guy was never tainted by scandal.
Peebles was correct that both have management experience, but as elected officials they had entirely different styles. Bloomberg was a delegator who empowered his commissioners. Cuomo was a micromanager who caused bottlenecks because staffers always needed his sign-off. “Completely paralyzing and debilitating,” one insider told Crain’s in 2012.
One thing the two men had in common: they were sometimes wrong despite being certain they were right.
Cuomo initially opposed letting the city raise its minimum wage, saying it would be “a chaotic situation” to have different minimums across the state. But ultimately, he allowed three wage tiers, and it has worked. He also closed the zero-emissions Indian Point nuclear plant and proposed a ridiculously expensive, unnecessary and unwanted tunnel from Long Island to Connecticut.
Bloomberg was adamant that Superfund status would mark the Gowanus Canal as polluted and scare off developers. We are constantly reminded how wrong he was.
Just this week, Bjarke Ingels Group released renderings for the 1,000-unit project that Sam Charney and Dov Barnett are about to build at 175 Third Street. It will include an esplanade on the waterway, which was once so toxic and purple that locals called it Lavender Lake.
Bloomberg, as mayor, wanted the canal cleaned up, just without the Superfund designation. But the federal program accelerated and helped pay for the remediation, and inspired developers’ and lenders’ confidence in the neighborhood’s future.
Along with the 2021 rezoning and the extension of the 421a construction deadline, Superfund status has led to the first multifamily development boom in Brooklyn since Downtown Brooklyn, Fourth Avenue, Williamsburg and Greenpoint were rezoned in the 2000s.
What we’re thinking about: Francis Greenburger’s Time Equities is once again buying New York City buildings. Its shopping list includes rent-stabilized properties to convert to condos. But such conversions have been virtually nonexistent since the 2019 HSTPA required at least 51 percent of tenants to agree to buy their units. Does that essentially mean a building would have to be substantially empty to be a conversion candidate? Send your thoughts to eengquist@therealdeal.com.
A thing we’ve learned: The Downtown Alliance — the Financial District’s business improvement district — has teamed up with nonprofit ArtBridge to beautify construction fencing and sidewalk sheds, including installation and permitting. To showcase the program, the BID is offering up to $10,000 or 25 percent of the cost (whichever is less) to five Lower Manhattan properties.
Applications are due at the end of May 2026. The program was made possible by Local Law 163 of 2023, which requires property owners erecting a temporary protective structure to either display artwork or opt out.
Elsewhere…
Asked about the housing shortage, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams told the New York Editorial Board that he poses three questions to audiences:
“Who thinks housing and homelessness is a real big issue that we have to address?” [Hands go up.]
“Who thinks the response to that should be housing at a price point that people can afford?” [Hands go up.]
“And who wants to live next to a taller building?” [No hands go up.]
Whether the audience is Democratic or Republican, wealthy or poor, he said, “those questions are answered the same, which says to me, most folks understand what’s needed. When it gets to [a project near] them, it is just difficult.”
Closing time
Residential: The top residential deal recorded Tuesday was $5.6 million for 152 Elizabeth Street, 3E. The Nolita condo unit is 2,000 square feet and sold in a private sale. It last sold in 2018 for $5.4 million.
Commercial: The top commercial deal recorded was $21.5 million for 256 West 38th Street. The Fashion District apartment building is 14 stories and 97,000 square feet.
New to the Market: The highest price for a residential property hitting the market was $10 million for 104 West 70th Street, Unit PH at the Walton Condominium. The unit is 2,700 square feet and listed by Compass’ Mark Jovanovic, Scott Hustis, David Son and Nora McGuire.
— Matthew Elo