City Hall’s next industry execs

For 11 years, it’s been one of the more popular and reliable career paths after a stint with Mayor Michael Bloomberg: a job in the real estate industry.

Indeed, many of Bloomberg’s most long-time and influential foot soldiers have moved on to jobs with development companies, architecture firms, conservation institutes and affordable-housing builders, among others.

Most recently, Seth Pinsky, the president of the city’s Economic Development Corp., took a job at RXR Realty, where he’s heading a new division focusing on emerging New York markets. In addition, Matthew Wambua, who headed the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development, left his post for mortgage lender RHR Funding, where he was tapped as president.

Now as the clock ticks down on the Bloomberg era, many observers are wondering where the last administration staffers will go, and which of them will be courted by developers and other real estate players.

Cas Holloway, the current deputy mayor for operations — a Harvard-educated attorney who raised his profile during the Hurricane Sandy recovery efforts — would be a natural fit in the real estate industry, several sources said.

Indeed, his oversight of the city’s Rapid Repairs program, which fixed up 20,000 storm-damaged homes, is seen as ideal experience for overseeing a major development project, they said.

Plus, “he had a good reputation in the operations role, which is a unique kind of skill set,” said one former city government employee who now works for a development firm. “You need to be very decisive.”

Richard Anderson, the president of the New York Building Congress, the construction industry group, said of Holloway: “The world is really his oyster, whether he goes to the private sector, or even stays in politics.”

Some sources said Holloway is indeed eying political office.

Veteran staffers

The Commissioner of the city’s Department of Buildings, Robert LiMandri — who worked for Jones Lang LaSalle as a consultant to banks between 1997 and 2000 — could also be a valuable pickup for a real-estate firm. That’s largely because he knows his way around the city’s Byzantine permitting process to a greater degree than just about anyone, sources noted.

“He would have enormous value at either a development firm or construction company,” said one source in the construction industry. “He’s a very bright guy.”

Sources said LiMandri might wait to jump to a new position until after January because he could be tapped by the next mayor — regardless of who wins — to stay on for a few months to help with the transition to the next administration.

Analyst Fred Siegel, a political writer and senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute who advised Rudolph Giuliani’s 1993 mayoral campaign, said he expected several of Bloomberg’s top aides and commissioner to go that route.

Meanwhile, David Burney, the commissioner of the Department of Design and Construction, who oversees a staff of 1,200, worked for the architectural firm Davis Brody Bond before moving into the public sector. Some sources expect him to return to a major architecture firm like Perkins Eastman or Skidmore, Owings and Merrill or to move to a megacompany like AECOM, an engineering and architecture firm whose portfolio includes global design, development and project planning.

On the press front, Marc La Vorgna and Julie Wood — both Bloomberg spokespeople who worked at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and the EDC, respectively, before joining the mayor in City Hall — are likely to be courted by developers who have business before the city.

Neither of them responded to requests for comment about their future plans or the plans of the mayor’s top aides.

Meanwhile, staffers at the EDC are now aggressively networking to find new jobs, a rush that intensified after last month’s primary, sources said.

Had City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Bloomberg’s preferred successor, won, those staff members might feel more secure. But with Bill de Blasio as the Democratic nominee and leading in the general election polls, they are more likely to be out of work, sources said.

Heavyweight hiring

The biggest factor in where these Bloomberg staffers end up depends, of course, on which big real estate firms or organizations are hiring.

Heavyweight firms like Forest City Ratner, Muss Development and the Durst Organization already have former Bloomberg officials on their payrolls, and have not put out feelers to hire more yet, sources said. Same goes for REBNY.

But overall, these jobs may be scarcer than some people realize.

“Scoring a job with one of these firms is like winning the lottery,” said one former Bloomberg aide who’s now in the private sector. “They don’t come around a lot.”

On the other hand, the Related Companies, which won a number of city projects under Bloomberg, may opt to add to its ranks now that the city will soon be under new management, sources said.

Also, commercial firm Cassidy Turley is in search of a sustainability director, and is interested in ex-Bloombergians, sources said.

And a search committee is looking around City Hall to find someone to run the Downtown Alliance, the influential Business Improvement District, after Liz Berger, its longtime president, died earlier this year.

In addition, sources say companies ramping up their New York presence are likely to scout for talent with city government experience.

The McCourt Group, which in September paid $167 million for a 26,000-square-foot site in the Hudson Yards from Sherwood Equities and Long Wharf Real Estate Partners, is currently looking for a spokesperson and is interested in a City Hall veteran, according to a source familiar with the firm’s search.

The Los Angeles-based company, which once owned the Los Angeles Dodgers, can build a 296,000-square-foot structure on the site as-of-right, but has the option to buy another 436,000 square feet from the city, which a former city official could help with, the source said.

McCourt officials did not respond to requests for comment.

The Australia-based Westfield Group, which controls all 460,000 square feet of retail space coming online at the new World Trade Center complex, is also expected to beef up its New York presence. Sources speculated that the company could hire a Bloomberg alum.

Less-traveled paths

Some of the top officials in the administration who deal with real estate–related issues are veering off the traditional path.

City Planning Chairman Amanda Burden and Transportation Commission Janette Sadik-Khan are in talks to team up and form an urban planning institute, Crain’s New York reported. Clients might include overseas city governments looking to add bike lanes, perhaps, or redevelop industrial areas. Under Burden’s 11-plus years in the administration, the city has passed 120 rezonings; while under Sadik-Khan’s tenure, it’s added 285 miles of bike lanes.

One insider denied the report, however, saying that Burden, who is independently wealthy, would more likely retire.

Meanwhile, Deputy Mayor Robert Steel, who currently oversees economic development, and who was a trustee at Duke for more than a decade, is expected to go into education, said one former aide.

Finally, Bloomberg may very well take key aides — including First Deputy Mayor Patty Harris and scheduler Shea Fink — with him as he gears up his foundation, sources predicted. And he may remember those who stuck around until the end.

“He’s got his hands in numerous pies, and he will remember who was loyal to him, and who wasn’t,” Siegel said.