Chicago Real Estate Pros Sharpening Political Tools

Chicago real estate lobbyist Michael Glasser led a crowd of hundreds of industry pros in a call-and-response chant Thursday night as he took the stage in a jam-packed lakefront venue.

“We’re not landlords. What are we?” Glasser asked the audience in his pep rally-style address.

“Housing providers!” the crowd chanted in unison.

Glasser hadn’t prepped them on what to say before his callout at the annual Lincoln Park Builder’s Forum at the Theater on the Lake, but it’s clear he’s been working behind the scenes to get his message across.

Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani won New York City’s mayoral election this month by positioning landlords as the enemy of affordability and Glasser said he fears that same image can be applied to Chicago’s landlords.

Impact Award Recipient Michael Glasser (Chamberlain Photography)

“We know that public perception counts,” he said.

Glasser’s audience at the annual gathering of real estate players seemed energized by his speech. They cheered when he talked about thwarting Mayor Brandon Johnson’s progressive agenda and laughed when he threw in double entendres for extra flair.

If New York’s real estate industry is about to begin its competition to win back political power, Chicago’s is at halftime and feeling confident.

Glasser, who was accepting the Lincoln Park Builders’ 2025 Impact Award, listed off recent accomplishments of his organization, the Neighborhood Building Owner’s Alliance, which has become an active lobbying group.

It was instrumental in a well-funded campaign to defeat Johnson’s proposal to increase the city’s real estate transfer tax and successfully swayed two aldermen to revoke their support for a right of first refusal ordinance for the Northwest Side’s multifamily market.

Still, fears remain over another right of first refusal rule proposed for South Shore and any possibility that rent control could gain traction at the state house.

Meanwhile, more than halfway through Johnson’s term, his approval rating is faltering and rents are growing more quickly in Chicago than pretty much anywhere else in the country — a trend the mayor campaigned on reversing. Part of that rent growth can be attributed to a steep dropoff in new multifamily construction.

But who, or what, to blame that on is up for debate. Some have pointed to broader economic factors like interest rates and construction costs while others focus their attention locally, especially on Chicago’s complex property tax system.

Following Glasser’s speech, a forum with developer AMLI’s CEO Gregory Mutz, former Illinois Senate President John Cullerton and former Chicago Alderman James Cappleman aimed to find answers.

The forum’s moderator Belgravia Chairman Alan Lev dressed up as an English barrister complete with a powdered wig and judge’s robe. He began the forum by asking the panelists to swear to tell the whole truth “or a little bit of the truth.”

Down in Texas, Austin has been building significantly more housing per year because, Mutz said, the city’s affordable housing policies are less restrictive than Chicago’s Affordable Requirements Ordinance. Chicago’s rule, commonly referred to as the ARO, generally requires that multifamily developers seeking zoning changes or financial assistance from the city set aside 10 to 20 percent of their units as affordable to people making 60 percent of the area median income.

The result is that developers either choose not to build at all or justify higher market rate rents via amenities to offset the cost of the lower-rent units, Mutz said.

“We’ve got amenities out the wazoo. I mean, it’s crazy what we’re doing. If you’re a poor person with a dog, Christ … these dog spas we’re building are nuts,” he said.

Cappleman, the former alderman whose soft-spoken cadence is likely a remnant of the time he previously spent as a Franciscan friar, chimed in.

“If we look at all the affordable housing in the city of Chicago — I’m talking about CHA housing, HUD housing, not-for-profit housing, and housing finance through Low Income Housing Tax Credits and ARO housing — how much of that do we get from the ARO? It is 1.8 percent. That’s it.”

The moderator, Lev, who had removed his wig by this point, cut in.

“It doesn’t work. How do we get our governmental officials to see that, understand that and change it, as opposed to just tweaking it and making it more onerous?” he asked Cappleman.

Cappleman responded that the ARO is ineffective but changes to it would be a political landmine for aldermen who list landlords “below drug dealers” on their list of priorities. Instead, Cappleman said, the members of the audience should focus their messaging toward renters and push for policies that allow developers to build more naturally occurring affordable housing.

The strategy talk comes at a time when political power is up for grabs in Chicago. In 2026, Illinois will see a major shakeup among its members of Congress with five seats set to be vacated. Among the candidates running for U.S. Senate is Jason Friedman, son of Chicago real estate giant Al Friedman. (Any mention of the 18 years he spent as president of his father’s development firm was left off his campaign website).

While incumbent J.B. Pritzker is favored to win the governor’s race, he is also a rumored candidate for president in 2028. And commercial real estate and video gambling company owner Rick Heidner recently threw his hat in the gubernatorial ring.

In 2027, Mayor Johnson will be up for re-election and he’s already drawn potential opponents. Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas announced her run this week and several other candidates across local and state levels of government are rumored to be joining her.

In the meantime, Glasser ended his speech with two final requests for the audience.

“For those of you who are interested, please come join us. For those of you who aren’t interested, but you still benefit from what we do, think about that transfer tax that didn’t happen and cut us a check,” he said.