Why did former mayor Mike Bloomberg endorse Andrew Cuomo for mayor and pour $5 million into a pro-Cuomo political action committee?
Bloomberg has never been a fan of Cuomo, so the logical conclusion is that his motivation has more to do with his feelings for the other Democratic candidates — Assembly member Zohran Mamdani, in particular.
One of Bloomberg’s most intense dislikes is socialism. That is not surprising for someone who became a billionaire through capitalism. (The source of his wealth is the Bloomberg terminal, a now-essential tool for bond traders.) Mamdani is not a pure socialist, but he’s a democratic socialist, which is enough for Bloomberg.
Some of Bloomberg’s economic philosophy can be seen in his real estate policies when he ran the city from 2002 through 2013. In rezoning Fourth Avenue, at the edge of Park Slope, he refused to mandate affordable units in the resulting apartment projects despite pleas from the two local Council members, Bill de Blasio and David Yassky.
Bloomberg likewise insisted that affordable housing only be incentivized, not mandated, in his rezoning of Greenpoint and Williamsburg — and everywhere else, for that matter. His compromise with the Council was to allow developers more square footage if they included low-rent units, but many opted to build 100 percent market-rate.
Another example of the mayor’s dislike for dictating to the private sector was his steadfast opposition to requiring a “living wage” at the Related Companies’ planned retail redevelopment of the Kingsbridge Armory in the Bronx. I was told at the time that Bloomberg was more adamant about this than Related was.
The upshot was that the City Council (in particular the Bronx delegation) refused to budge, and the rezoning that Related needed died in 2009. The next plan for the armory, ice rinks, fell through because its backers could not get financing. The armory remains empty to this day, although another project is in the works.
I would argue that Bloomberg was wrong that mandating affordability in rezoning in-demand neighborhoods would stifle development. Just look at the results of de Blasio’s Mandatory Inclusionary Housing law. (However, MIH might be curbing development in weaker markets, such as East New York.)
Bloomberg also might have been wrong that an $11-an-hour wage floor would have stopped retailers from leasing space at the Kingsbridge Armory. New York City’s minimum wage was raised to $11 at the end of 2016, and retailers continued signing leases.
But if Bloomberg thinks that Mamdani’s plan for government-operated supermarkets is a terrible idea, which he surely does, I would agree. Ditto for Mamdani’s four-year freeze of stabilized rents. Mike Bloomberg is a pure capitalist.
Moreover, he was burned when de Blasio campaigned on an anti-Bloomberg theme and won the 2013 race to succeed him. Bloomberg will do whatever he can to prevent Mamdani, a fan of de Blasio’s, from winning.
It might not be enough. There are diminishing returns for all this money pouring into pro-Cuomo PACs. I see parallels between Cuomo’s post-scandal comeback attempt and that of another former governor, Eliot Spitzer, who initially topped the polls in the 2013 race for city comptroller but lost to Scott Stringer.
What we’re thinking about: If you’re supporting Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary, is it because you like him or because you dislike the other candidates? If you’re not supporting Cuomo, is it because you dislike him or because you really like another candidate? Send your thoughts to eengquist@therealdeal.com.
A thing we’ve learned: The city’s Department of Finance is delaying some buildings’ July 1 property tax payment deadline until Aug. 15 because of a glitch in the co-op and condo abatement application process, the New York Post reported. But there has been no word on whether the abatement will be granted to buildings that couldn’t file their applications before the Feb. 15 cutoff. There is no way to check the status of applications on the agency’s primitive website, and emails to its customer service people often generate inscrutable responses.
Elsewhere…
Shortly before losing the Democratic primary in his bid to become governor of New Jersey, Steve Fulop, the mayor of Jersey City, shared the keys to his city’s development boom with the Bloomberg podcast Odd Lots. It’s worth a listen.
A major factor in the slew of multifamily projects was changing Jersey City’s tax incentive program, which “was very political in nature” when he took office, Fulop said. “The politics created apprehension or uncertainty,” said the mayor. “We changed the policy entirely.”
He explained, “It wasn’t necessarily predicated on what lawyer or architect you hire. In most places in New Jersey, it’s who you know … that allows you entrée into the process. The more you can remove that, the more likely people are to invest.”
The wink-and-nod approval process in many Garden State localities has limited the pool of developers, according to Fulop.
“I think it’s a cultural issue in New Jersey,” he said. “We have a senator who’s about to go to prison for gold bars. That’s an example of the political culture of how people perceive New Jersey.”
Closing time
Residential: The top residential deal recorded Tuesday was $8.25 million for a 3,457-square-foot, sponsor-sale condominium at 408 Greenwich Street in Tribeca. Aroza Sanjana of Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Realty had the listing.
Commercial: The top commercial deal recorded was $13.5 million for 43-45 West 86th Street on the Upper East Side. The combined apartment buildings contain 18,873 square feet and 19 residential units. Regals Capital sold the properties to Bard Graduate Center.
New to the Market: The highest price for a residential property hitting the market was $15 million for a 4,266-square-foot condominium unit at Fortis’ Olympia Dumbo, 30 Front Street. The Eklund Gomes Team at Douglas Elliman has the listing.
Breaking Ground: The largest new building application filed was for a proposed 129,346-square-foot, 125-unit, 30-story, mixed-use building at 16 West 45th Street in Midtown. Wilson Chao of Nexus Architect filed the permit on behalf of Hiwin Group USA.
— Matthew Elo
