Did you read John Catsimatidis’ wild interview with the New York Editorial Board?
Before I get to that, some history:
Catsimatidis has clashed with me a couple of times — once because I supported a bill to ban supermarkets from giving away plastic bags (which passed and has worked well), and later because I doubted he would follow through on an idea to run for mayor again (he didn’t).
Cats is a self-made billionaire. That doesn’t happen by accident. It’s fair to say he’s a business savant, especially at buying companies dirt-cheap out of bankruptcy (oil refineries, gas stations/convenience stores) and making them profitable. He’s best known for Gristedes, but that’s not the primary source of his wealth.
He has also developed some large buildings in New York City, providing housing in a city that desperately needs it.
But his skill set does not extend to policies and politics, which are important for any mayor. That’s why I found him an odd choice for an interview by a board focused on those topics.
The transcript was painful to read, as Cats rattled off fake-news talking points and conspiracy theories from the right-wing propaganda machine. I often write about socialist fantasies and propaganda, so you know my objection here isn’t rooted in partisanship. I just prefer reality.
But eventually the board asked Cats about the grocery business, a subject he knows well, and he said something I found interesting: Gristedes’ unionized workforce has done nothing to protect his supermarkets from nonunion competition.
He seemed bitter about that. He didn’t mention that unions kept Walmart out of New York City, but that was long ago. Today, several nonunion supermarket chains are expanding aggressively here (a boon to the real estate industry).
By contrast, the Hotel Trades Council stopped nonunion hotels’ expansion cold by passing a special permit requirement in 2021. This was a pure transactional arrangement with Bill de Blasio and the City Council. Unionized hotels and their landlords were also winners in that deal.
Champions of capitalism hate that kind of thing. Catsimatidis is certainly a capitalist. But I can understand why he wants the retail workers’ unions to limit competition from nonunion chains. That is part of their job, and he’s paying them. Who could blame him for wondering, “What am I getting in return?”
What we’re thinking about: A City Council bill to allow housing exclusive to artists seems like a bad idea. Artists-only housing in Soho was not well enforced, and the rule was routinely ignored. And the principle seems wrong: The bill would create an exception to discrimination law to discriminate against non-artists. Send your thoughts to eengquist@therealdeal.com.
A thing we’ve learned: Any vetoes by Mayor Eric Adams of bills passed Thursday by the City Council will not be subject to overrides until next month, when the Council will have a bunch of new members and, more importantly, a new speaker in Julie Menin. The speaker controls the agenda, so if Menin doesn’t want a vetoed bill to become law, she can prevent a vote to override from even being held.
Elsewhere…
The Kingston city council voted to keep rent stabilization by maintaining its “housing emergency” status despite its housing survey last spring finding a citywide vacancy rate above 7 percent.
Vacancy below 5 percent has always been necessary for declaring a housing emergency. And a housing emergency is necessary to have rent stabilization.
Kingston’s vacancy rate is only under 5 percent in the subset of buildings eligible for rent stabilization. What typically matters, however, is the citywide rate, although the law is a bit vague. Landlords will surely sue if rent regulation continues. Is the council pushing the envelope in the hopes that a court will bless this approach?
Closing time
Residential: The top residential deal recorded Thursday was $46.8 million for a 6,942-square-foot, sponsor-sale condominium unit at Gary Barnett’s 50 West 66th Street in Lincoln Square.
Commercial: The top commercial deal recorded was $16 million for 144-32 and 144-36 Northern Boulevard in Flushing. The latter property, a 1,500-square-foot commercial space, fetched $11.2 million and 144-32, a single-family house, went for $4.8 million. An LLC tied to Century Development Group purchased the property.
New to the Market: The highest price for a residential property hitting the market was $3.85 million for a 3,120-square-foot house at 176-12 Kildare Road in Jamaica Estates. Leah Musheyeva with Exit Realty First Choice has the listing.
Breaking Ground: The largest new building permit filed was for a proposed 315,325-square-foot, 156-unit project at 136-48 37th Avenue in Flushing. Frank Fusaro of Handel Architects filed the permit on behalf of Richard Siu of F&T Group.
— Matthew Elo