Carl Wilson’s 17-point victory in Tuesday’s special election for City Council was a win for real estate on two levels.
The first, as expertly explained by my colleague Caroline Spivack in TRD Policy Pro, was that Wilson is a supporter of realistic, mainstream pro-housing policies, while second-place finisher Lindsey Boylan is Democratic Socialists of America member who backs the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act and a vacancy tax on financially nonviable rent-stabilized apartments.
The other blessing for the industry was that Democratic district leader Layla Law-Gisiko finished a distant third with 20 percent of the vote.
Law-Gisiko centered her campaign on opposition to a plan by the Related Companies and Essence Development to replace a falling-apart New York City Housing Authority campus in Chelsea with new, mixed-income buildings.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani enthusiastically supports Fulton and Elliott-Chelsea redevelopment, which will move the NYCHA tenants into brand new apartments under the same rental terms they enjoy today.
If you consider Mamdani to be a radical, by the transitive power of radicalness, any politician who opposes the eminently sensible NYCHA project must be a total lunatic.
Actually, not all opponents of the project are lunatics. Some are well-off NIMBYs who don’t live in public housing but just don’t want a massive construction project in their neighborhood that benefits other people. It is a selfish position, but at least it’s logical.
To call Law-Gisiko a NIMBY would be giving her the benefit of the doubt. Having read her emails about rallying NYCHA tenants to reject modern housing for themselves and others, I am not willing to do that.
What we’re thinking about: “Bumping this to the top of your inbox.” State Sen. Andrew Gounardes is pushing hard to pass his anti-stalking legislation this year. Having been hounded relentlessly by press releases for the bill and countless other irrelevant pitches, I am wondering if the law could be used to keep public relations people at bay. Send feedback to eengquist@therealdeal.com.
A thing we’ve learned: Got a question for Dina Levy, commissioner of the Department of Housing Preservation and Development? Submit it here and The Real Deal will consider posing it to Levy at our New York Forum on May 6.
Elsewhere…
Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice Julie Su, at the Mamdani administration’s press conference for its supermarket plan, noted that nearly 40 percent of East Harlem residents receive SNAP or public assistance.
“The truth is, this did not happen because this community was forgotten by accident,” she said. “It happened because, for too long, we’ve accepted a city where the private market could leave whole neighborhoods behind and called that normal.”
That’s how a socialist would put it — the private market left East Harlem behind.
But an economist would say that markets don’t make cognitive decisions, just like people do not choose to be poor. Rather, given the dynamics of human behavior, government policies lead to predictable outcomes.
On that count, economists would be much closer to the truth.
In well-regulated markets, incentives are aligned so everyone benefits. If Su meant that the government should have done that, rather than writing off poor neighborhoods as a result of bad personal decisions, I would agree.
Closing time
Residential: The most expensive residential sale recorded Thursday was $15.1 million for a 4,489-square-foot condominium at Trump International, 1 Central Park West. Leighton Candler and Jennifer Reardon with Corcoran had the listing.
Commercial: The most expensive commercial transaction was $15.2 million for a 22-unit apartment building at 246 East 53rd Street in Turtle Bay. Kriss Capital was the seller.
New to the Market: The highest price for a residential property hitting the market was $16.9 million for a 3,432-square-foot condo at The Century Condominium, 25 Central Park West. Kyle Blackmon and Samantha Shuman with Compass have the listing.
Breaking Ground: The largest new project filed included three permits totaling 230,173 square feet and 229 units at 971 & 985 Dean Street and 1070 Pacific Street in Crown Heights. Kao Hwa Lee Architects filed the permits on behalf of PIFR Real Estate Holdings LLC.
— Matthew Elo
