From left: Michael Bloomberg and William Thompson

A camera lens analogy might help voters understand where Michael Bloomberg and William Thompson, who are New York’s main mayoral candidates, stand on key real estate issues ahead of tomorrow’s election. Bloomberg, the Republican incumbent, seems to favor a wide-angle approach, as his sweeping rezoning of a fifth of the city, or 8,400 blocks over eight years in office, would indicate. Focused on creating denser, more transit-oriented development, according to his PlaNYC, which was unveiled in 2007, the city has famously paved the way for homes to be built into once-industrial swaths of land, notably along the Williamsburg waterfront in Brooklyn. [more]

Brooklyn-based developer and investment group Guttman Realty made the winning bid for the auction of two bankrupt Caritas Healthcare properties, with the aggregate purchase price coming in at $26.63 million. CB Richard Ellis announced the winning bid today for the two former hospital sites in Queens: the four-acre Mary Immaculate Hospital campus in Jamaica and the two-acre St. John’s Queens Hospital property in Elmhurst. The buyer has not settled on an official use for the two properties, but is considering transforming the Mary Immaculate site for educational, religious, non-profit or governmental use, and using the St. John’s site as an office building. Larry Weiss, a CBRE vice president, which represented the seller in the auction, said his firm was happy with the auction’s outcome. TRD [more]

The former home of the Queens family court at 89-14 Parsons Boulevard in Jamaica is in the process of receiving a $194 million renovation, which will transform the library-turned-courthouse into 346 units of affordable housing and retail space. Drew Spitler, vice president of development group Dermot, which is overseeing the project, said that his company will preserve the building’s original facade, while creating a space that uses 14 percent less energy. The hope is that the building will not only provide housing to low- and middle-income families, but will also create construction jobs in the neighborhood. “We’re hoping it’s a catalyst for further development,” Spitler said. The first round of lotteries for the space will begin this fall.