Sen. Brian Kavanagh will not seek reelection, leaving his seat and his role as housing chair up for grabs.
Kavanagh, who announced this week that he will leave office after his term ends this year, has been chair of the Senate Committee on Housing, Construction and Community Development since January 2019, which proved to be a pivotal year for the real estate industry. Buoyed by the Senate’s newly-gained majority that year, the legislature approved the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019. The legislature also passed good cause eviction, created a state-based housing voucher program and approved a replacement to 421a during his tenure.
In a statement, he pointed to his pitch to voters in his first-ever campaign, during which he said it was time to elect “a new generation of leadership.” He said now it’s his turn to make room.
“I believe that all of us in elected office owe it to our constituents to recognize when we have reached a point when we have given it our all and they would be well served by electing someone new,” he said. “For me, that point is now.”
The industry will be watching for who takes over the committee chair role and whether that person is further to the left than Kavanagh. Personally, and speaking solely from the perspective of an anxious reporter, I will be watching to see if his successor can also get really into the weeds on housing policy and field questions about specific bill language as Kavanagh has done.
Possible replacements are already lining up for his Manhattan seat. Assembly member Grace Lee posted on social media that she is considering a run, and former Assembly member Yuh-Line Niou announced she plans to run, citing the need for “bold, aggressive, truly progressive leadership.” Lee waged an unsuccessful campaign to unseat Niou in 2020, but won the seat two years later when Niou left the Assembly. In these previous races, the real estate industry preferred Lee. But we’ll see who else throws their hat in the ring.
In other legislative news: Diana Moreno on Tuesday night won a special election to fill Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s seat in the Assembly. Moreno had the backing of the mayor and the Democratic Socialists of America. The win brings the number of state “Socialists in Office” (a term used by the DSA to describe electeds who were endorsed by the organization) back up to nine.
What we’re thinking about: Who do you think will take over as the housing chair in the state Senate? Who would you like to see in that role? What are your thoughts on Kavanagh’s tenure? Send a note to kathryn@therealdeal.com.
A thing we’ve learned: Dina Levy, commissioner of the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, says she is open to talking about adjustments to 485x. “I want to have some real conversations to find out [if] we need to make some accommodations in light of the prevailing wage and the deeper affordability restrictions,” she told me last week.
Elsewhere in New York…
— Gov. Kathy Hochul on Wednesday announced that former City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams will be her running mate as she runs for reelection. Adams would serve as her lieutenant governor, replacing Antonio Delgado, who is challenging Hochul in the primary.
— Mayor Zohran Mamdani plans to endorse Hochul’s reelection bid this week, Politico New York reports. That’s a major blow to Delgado as he tries to shore up support from the far left.
— During a breakfast held by the Association for a Better New York, Council Speaker Julie Menin said the Council is studying city-owned sites, community rezonings and public libraries for potential housing opportunities. “Instead of responding to private land use applications, or ULURPs, instead of hoping that they net us an amount of housing that addresses the current shortage, we are going to survey neighborhoods ourselves across the five boroughs,” she told the crowd.
Closing Time
Residential: The top residential deal recorded Wednesday was $10.8 million for a 4,357-square-foot co-op unit at 995 Fifth Avenue on the Upper East Side. Leslie R. Coleman and Christina Lee with Brown Harris Stevens had the listing.
Commercial: The top commercial deal recorded was $13 million for a 30,200-square-foot industrial building at 54-60 48th Street in Flushing.
New to the Market: The highest price for a residential property hitting the market was $15 million for a 6,338-square-foot condominium at 455 Central Park West on the Upper West Side. Corey Mittenthal and Brian K. Meier at Brown Harris Stevens have the listing.
Breaking Ground: The largest new building permit filed was for a proposed 139,746-square-foot, seven-story, 88-unit mixed-use project at 50-02 Skillman Avenue in Sunnyside. Thomas Lang filed the permit on behalf of Amin Siad.
— Matthew Elo
