Spoiler alert: Making a video about how great a building is probably doesn’t put you in the best position to negotiate a lower price when you try to buy or lease it.
ICYMI, the City Council on Tuesday grilled Department of Citywide Administrative Services’ Commissioner Louis Molina about his agency’s leasing of commercial properties.
During the hearing, a video was shown featuring Jesse Hamilton, deputy commissioner of real estate services at DCAS, promoting the Bronx Logistics Center as a “phenomenal place” that “can accommodate a lot of the city agencies.”
The video looks bad for a number of reasons (not to mention being low-quality and featuring clumsy dialogue).
For one, Hamilton is a city employee who oversees a portfolio of city-owned and leased properties. This video shows him boosting a property that, apparently, the city was considering for use by two agencies.
Molina said that the city was considering acquiring the property to store NYPD and Department of Sanitation vehicles. (It is unclear if the city was considering a purchase or a lease.)
The emergence of this video also comes as officials investigate the city’s commercial leases:
Last month, investigators seized Hamilton’s phone as he was returning from a trip to Japan with a top aide to Mayor Eric Adams and Cushman & Wakefield broker, Diana Boutross, according to reports.
During the hearing, Molina said that the Office of Management and Budget is “not funding or entertaining” the purchase or leasing of the warehouse. OMB signs off on costs related to rent, operating expenses, real estate taxes and tenant improvements.
DCAS doubled down on this on Wednesday, telling Crain’s that it is “not moving forward with the lease or acquisition of the Bronx Logistics Center at this time.”
“The video in question is under review,” a DCAS spokesperson said in a statement provided to TRD. “We can say with confidence that this was not a DCAS production and was never shared on any of our official channels.”
The timeline here is a little fuzzy. Molina indicated that he met with Hamilton, brokers from Cushman & Wakefield, including Diana Boutross, on Oct. 8 to discuss the “possible acquisition” of the warehouse and said such talks were in the “early stages.”
It is unclear exactly at what point the city decided against using the building, and whether the investigation around the city leases had anything to do with it.
What we’re thinking about: Election day is almost here. What’s top of mind for you? Send a note to kathryn@therealdeal.com.
A thing we’ve learned: Kushner Companies is worth an estimated $2.9 billion, according to Forbes. That’s $1 billion more than it was in 2016, when Trump was elected, the magazine points out.
Elsewhere in New York…
— New Yorkers can now cross the street midblock with abandon (not that they weren’t already doing just that). Over the weekend, Mayor Eric Adams signed a bill into law decriminalizing jaywalking, the New York Times reports. “Let’s be real, every New Yorker jaywalks,” City Council member Mercedes Narcisse, the bill’s sponsor, told the newspaper. “People are simply trying to get where they need to go.” Historically, the law was unevenly enforced, disproportionately targeting Black and Latino residents. Last year, 92 percent of the 463 people who were issued summonses for crossing a city street without a signal were Black or Latino.
— The mayor announced Wednesday that city students will have all of the week of Christmas off, rather than having to come in one day that week, on Monday, Dec. 23, Gothamist reports. “We know that a one-day week would not be well attended — so this just makes good sense. Our children’s education will not be short-changed,” Adams said in a press release.
Closing Time
Residential: The priciest residential sale Wednesday was $13.1 million for a 4,621-square-foot condominium at 35 Hudson Yards. The sponsor sale was listed by The Corcoran Group.
Commercial: The largest commercial sale of the day was $6 million for a retail space at 21-21 31st Street in Astoria. The condo declaration shows the space is 8,502 square feet.
New to the Market: The highest price for a residential property hitting the market was $10 million for a 4,514-square-foot condominium at 17 East 12th Street, in Greenwich Village. Kyle Blackmon of Compass has the listing.
Breaking Ground: The largest new building application filed was a proposed 52,871-square-foot, 7-story mixed use project at 1517 Mermaid Avenue in Coney Island. Permits were filed by Panagiotis Vikatos of Vikatos Architect. — Matthew Elo