Vornado’s Steve Roth spent six minutes on the REIT’s earning call on Tuesday ranting about politicians’ calls to tax the rich and calling Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s recent viral video about Ken Griffin “irresponsible” and “dangerous.”
Vornado’s co-head of real estate Glen Weiss supported his boss’s comments at The Real Deal’s annual forum in NYC on Wednesday, while doubling down on the firm’s commitment to 350 Park.
“Everyone could agree that for a government leader to do a video like that is not a good thing,” said Weiss, referring to Mamdani’s video where he used Griffin’s penthouse at 220 Central Park South as backdrop to promote Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposed pied-à-terre tax,
There has been speculation that Griffin’s Citadel could back out of 350 Park Avenue tower, a 2 million-square-foot office project developed by Griffin, Vornado and Rudin. Griffin added fuel to the fire by saying Citadel would “double down” on Miami, where the firm is developing a 54-story office tower.
“We’ve started demolition and we’re ready to roll,” said Weiss. “There’s a lot of rhetoric, a lot of stuff in the media that’s not accurate, quite frankly.”
Vornado faces a mid-July deadline to either fully commit to the joint venture or sell its stake. Vornado and Rudin have the option to acquire an interest between 23 percent and 40 percent.
“You should assume we’re in,” said Weiss.
Stephen Siegel, the chairman of CBRE, who also spoke on the panel, was not as mild-mannered as Weiss about Mamdani.
“Unfortunately, our mayor’s DNA is not to work with the elite or the rich or the successful,” said Siegel. “His whole background, the party he belongs to and his philosophies are the root of what he had to say about Ken [Griffin]”
The panelists, which included Weiss, Siegel, and Elizabeth Hart of Newark, also spoke about the broader office market. Siegel said he’s seeing a big uptick in the rents and values for Class B buildings.
“[Class B office buildings are] becoming viable,” said Siegel. “As I tried to tell some clients, nobody listens to me anymore, two years ago, at least, they’re worthy of investment now.”
He adds, “even if people didn’t listen before you’re starting to see the Class B, landlords make the renovations now, do the capital improvements.”
Weiss said 350 Park Avenue is already getting calls from tenants, years before the building will be finished.
“Users as small as 50,000 feet are already calling us for presentations five years ahead of time, which is unheard of,” said Weiss. “So that shows you the tight market we’re in.”
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“Miami’s open for business”: Ken Griffin doubles down on offices at his Brickell supertall
Steve Roth calls Mamdani video “irresponsible and dangerous”
