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Hello, let’s get into today’s news at the intersection of policy and real estate:
- Newly elected City Council member Carl Wilson backs COPA.
- Mamdani nominates a housing policy veteran to lead the Board of Standards and Appeals — an agency poised for a bigger role in fast-tracking affordable housing.
- Manhattan’s office hot streak is a boon for the city’s coffers.
In this edition we mention: City Council member Carl Wilson, Department of City Planning’s housing division director John Mangin, Herick’s land use and zoning group chair Mitch Korbey and others.
We Heard
- Reading the room: Newly elected City Council member Carl Wilson has signed onto the closely watched Community Opportunity to Purchase Act, or COPA, which would give city-designated nonprofits the first shot at buying certain distressed multi-family buildings. Wilson, who won an April special election to represent the West Village, Chelsea and Hell’s Kitchen, ran on a comparatively moderate housing platform. While on the campaign trail, he did not take an explicit stance on COPA; instead, he called for boosting housing production across income levels, speeding up office-to-residential conversions and highlighted his work on the Midtown South Mixed-Use Plan as chief of staff to former Council member Erik Bottcher, whose seat he now holds. That distinguished him from runner-up Lindsey Boylan, a Democratic Socialists of America member who backed a vacancy tax on rent-stabilized apartments, greater investment in social housing and COPA. In the race’s final stretch, Mayor Zohran Mamdani threw his support behind Boylan as part of a broader effort to expand his Council allies to help advance his agenda. Perhaps the mayor needn’t have bothered. Mamdani’s housing plan identifies COPA as a core piece of his housing agenda, and Wilson is now on board. His support isn’t entirely out of left field: his campaign did call for stronger tenant protections and development that benefits existing residents without displacement, and his former boss, Bottcher, also backed the bill. Still, the timing is notable. COPA already has the majority support it needs to pass in the Council, meaning Wilson’s endorsement is hardly decisive. But it could earn him goodwill with both the Council’s progressive bloc and City Hall. Wilson’s office did not return multiple requests for comment.
- Housing heavyweight: Mamdani on Tuesday nominated housing policy veteran John Mangin to lead the city’s Board of Standards and Appeals, an obscure agency that’s poised to become a bigger player in fast-tracking affordable housing thanks to charter changes approved by voters last year. Mangin helped craft some of New York’s most significant housing policies in recent years. In his current role as director of the Department of City Planning’s housing division, he was a key architect of the sweeping City of Yes for Housing Opportunity zoning reforms, along with the Mandatory Inclusionary Housing program. Last year he served as the director of policy and research for the mayor’s Charter Revision Commission, which resulted in voters approving city charter changes that enable certain housing projects to bypass City Council review. That includes a new fast-track process within BSA, which it adopted rules to carry out in May, that gives the agency the authority to greenlight zoning waivers for certain publicly-funded affordable housing developments — allowing them to bypass the ULURP process. The BSA’s typical role is to provide zoning variances and consider enforcement action appeals by city agencies, including the Department of Buildings. Mangin still has to be confirmed by the City Council, but if approved he would replace Shampa Chanda, who was appointed by former Mayor Eric Adams in 2022. “The housing crisis calls for urgency, and the BSA plays a crucial role in an active, all-of-government approach to build a more affordable city,” said Mangin in a statement. Housing policy experts and pro-development advocates widely praised the news. Former BSA Commissioner Mitch Korbey, the chair of the land use and zoning group with law firm Herick, called the nomination “an extremely wise decision” that will help elevate the agency as a driver of affordable housing.
- Leasing frenzy: Manhattan’s office leasing rebound is translating into a brighter tax outlook for the city. The City Council projects real estate transfer tax revenue will exceed the Mamdani administration’s forecasts this year, and over the next three fiscal years, driven in part by a resurgence in high-end office deals, according to new revenue analysis published by the Council Tuesday. The Council expects transfer tax collections to reach roughly $1.5 billion this year and $1.6 billion next year, compared with City Hall’s projections of $1.4 billion and $1.5 billion. The forecast comes as Manhattan’s office market is posting its strongest leasing momentum in decades. Tenants inked 4.2 million square feet of leases in May, a 17 percent jump from April and a 35 percent year-over-year increase, putting the market on pace for its best performance since 2000, according to analysis from a recent Colliers report.
Have a tip or feedback? Reach me at caroline.spivack@therealdeal.com.
Bill Tracker
| Bill Number | Lead Sponsor(s) | Summary | Committee |
| Intro. 0905 | City Council member Sandy Nurse | Gives city-approved nonprofits and joint ventures with for-profit developers the first opportunity to buy certain multi-family buildings | Referred to Committee on Housing and Buildings |
The Catch-Up
As with any city program, COPA is susceptible to corruption, given the history of nonprofits’ exploitation of city-funded programs, writes The Real Deal columnist Erik Engquist.
Summit Properties has agreed to waive millions of dollars in unpaid rent that tenants in a 98-building portfolio owed in the years leading up to a high-profile bankruptcy sale targeted by Mayor Mamdani, reports Gothamist.
Amtrak officials unveiled glossy renderings Monday for President Trump and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s Penn Station overhaul. Missing from the presentation, however, were answers to the two most pressing questions: What it will cost and who’s footing the bill, writes Streetsblog.
New York City has completed the first phase of the Battery Coastal Resilience Project, a long-planned effort to protect Battery Park and the Financial District from severe storm surges and sea-level rise, reports amNew York.
The Kicker
“We look forward to being able to have a proposal that is ready for action in Albany next year,” said the city’s Office of Management and Budget Director Sherif Soliman during a Tuesday City Council hearing, signaling a delay in the city’s long-awaited property tax reform plan. In February, Soliman said a completed proposal would be ready within “weeks.”
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