In case there weren’t enough City Council bills for the real estate industry to chew on, a construction wage bill is gaining momentum.
The Council just passed a bill requiring hotel operators to obtain a license. It is considering how much to carve up the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity. The body is also mulling the end of broker fees as we know them.
On Monday, it will hold a hearing on a measure that would set a wage floor for city-funded projects. Here are the basics:
— The Construction Justice Act, backed by the laborers’ union, would mandate wages and benefits be worth at least $40 per hour at certain housing projects that receive public funding. At least $25 of that must be wages. As with the property tax break 485x, these levels may end up being phased in, depending on how negotiations go.
— The wage rules would apply to housing projects that receive a specific level of city funding, have 100 or more units, and have construction costs of $3 million or more. It would also apply to demolitions.
— The wage requirements would apply to such projects that are partially or completely funded by the city in the form of loans, grants or land conveyances valued at $1 million or more. Tax abatements and exemptions do not count as city financing.
The Real Estate Board of New York has expressed conceptual support for the bill, finding it more palatable to a prevailing wage measure pitched by the New York City District Council of Carpenters.
The Construction Justice Act sets similar wage terms to the agreement reached between REBNY and the laborers’ union over 485x’s wage floor. Given that state officials signed off on that rule, along with other wage requirements as part of the tax break, Local 79’s Oona Adams is hopeful that city officials will follow suit.
“It feels hard to argue that a $40 an hour wage is impossible given that the 485x bill passed with this exact wage floor,” she said in an interview. But the 485x wage floor’s impact remains unknown.
We shall see how these discussions play out on Monday’s hearing.
What we’re thinking about: How long has Michael Liebowitz been in line to succeed Howard Lorber at Douglas Elliman? Send a note to kathryn@therealdeal.com.
A thing we’ve learned: A singer/songwriter who goes by Princess Chelsea has a song called “Respect the Labourers,” expressing her admiration for construction laborers. Every time I write or read a story about the laborers’ union, the song gets stuck in my head.
Elsewhere in New York…
— A fire in Canton, New York, killed more than 40 dogs in a rescue organization’s kennel on Thursday, the Associated Press reports. The fire started at about 1 a.m. at the No Dogs Left Behind building at the Maple Ridge Kennels in Canton. The cause of the blaze has not been officially determined.
— In a new legal filing, Mayor Eric Adams’ attorneys reiterated accusations that the government leaked sensitive information about its bribery investigation, tainting public perception of the case before it went to the grand jury, Gothamist reports. “One of two things happened here,” the lawyers wrote. “Either the government leaked grand jury information in violation of Rule 6(e), or multiple subjects of a criminal investigation independently leaked self-derogating information, contrary to their own self-interest.” Federal prosecutors have said that information provided to multiple news organizations in the lead up to the mayor’s indictment appeared to come from law enforcement sources and “appeared to be far removed from the prosecution team.”
— Months after the city’s Campaign Finance Board flagged that the mayor may have had more campaign bundlers than the zero he reported, Adams’ team amended filings, Politico New York reports. The 2025 re-election campaign disclosed that Gui An Lin, an NYPD official close to former Commissioner Edward Caban, collected $2,500 in donations from 10 coworkers.
Closing Time
Residential: The priciest residential sale Friday was $4.7 million for a 3,000-square-foot, single-family home at 39 Strong Place in Brooklyn. The Cobble Hill home sold for $1,558 per square foot. The Corcoran Group’s Lesley Semmelhack was the listing agent.
Commercial: The largest commercial sale of the day was $7.5 million at 232 Bowery in Manhattan. The Lower East Side property is mixed-use with one unit dedicated to residential space. The other is used as a hybrid cafe and florist called the PlantShed.
New to the Market: The highest price for a residential property hitting the market was $15 million for 115 South Street in the Financial District. The multi-family residence is 13,000 square feet. Compass’s Jim St. André, Trevor Stephens and Michael Maniawski have the listing.
— Joseph Jungermann