Tucked away on page 43 of the Mamdani admin’s “Rental Ripoff” report is a box explaining how the city plans to talk about landlords going forward.
After a few months of referring to “bad” or “negligent” landlords and “preservation purchasers,” city officials have a new shorthand: There are now “high road” landlords and “low road” landlords.
High-road landlords, the city explains, meet with their tenants regularly. They work with officials and lenders to make sure their buildings are maintained and that “modest returns are stable.”
Low-road landlords, on the other hand, “speculate on critical housing infrastructure
using high risk, high reward practices that rely on evictions, disinvestment, or political
games to make a profit from housing rather than ensuring long-term stability.”
Who are some high-road landlords? As one example, the mayor offered his own former Queens landlord, who gave him a preferential rent of $2,300 for a one-bedroom. (The landlord renovated and raised the rent to a new legal limit with the next tenant, according to the Wall Street Journal.) But one imagines that nonprofit landlords and community land trusts, the kind the city is working with on a new East Village development, will also fit the bill.
The landlords the mayor has publicly targeted so far, including Pinnacle Group, Fordham Fulton Realty and A&E Real Estate, are likely in the low-road camp.
The administration says it will intensify “organizing, enforcement, and litigation strategies” aimed at these low-road landlords. It will target at least 10 portfolios for transfer to high-road landlords, through roof-to-cellar inspections, tenant organizing and court action.
Most landlords and lobbyists concede that there are bad actors in real estate. A fear from landlord groups here seems to be about how big a circle the administration will draw around so-called low-road landlords, and whether property owners who haven’t acted poorly, but aren’t part of the mayor’s crew, will face consequences. The Real Estate Board of New York pointed to data showing that only 10 percent of multifamily buildings are responsible for 80 percent of evictions.
The other concern from real estate is that landlords not maintaining their buildings because they can’t afford to will get fines instead of help, a stick instead of a carrot.
“The report documents real distress in the housing stock,” reads a statement from the New York Apartment Association. “That distress has a cause. Buildings cannot be maintained on frozen revenue.”
What we’re thinking about: The “Rental Ripoff” report also proposes “legally recognizing” tenant unions. It’s not totally clear exactly how this would work or what it would look like. Have thoughts? Share them here: lilah.burke@therealdeal.com.
A thing we’ve learned: Before it was called Extell Development, Gary Barnett’s New York-based real estate development firm was known as Intell. Barnett changed the name in 2005 when tech giant Intel sued for trademark infringement.
— Spencer Davis
Elsewhere…
— About 70 percent of the 5,000 New York City cooling towers given inspections since 2017 were written up for violations, reports Bisnow. Of those with violations, almost 10 percent were considered “public health hazards specifically related to Legionella bacteria.” In those cases, the building operator either didn’t have a maintenance program, failed to test for Legionella or didn’t take corrective action after finding elevated amounts of Legionella, according to data from the New York City Health Department’s Office of Building Water Systems Oversight.
— Mayor Zohran Mamdani has already raised about $304,000 from almost 6,000 donors in his bid for reelection in 2029, writes City & State. The funding comes mostly from outside New York City, with 61 percent coming from donors with addresses outside the five boroughs.
— New York City officials urged summer school programs to stay inside as air quality worsened due to smoke rolling in from an Ontario, Canada, wildfire, reports Chalkbeat. Mayor Zohran Mamdani warned in a post on X that the heatwave and smoke can be dangerous to New Yorkers’ health.
— Spencer Davis
Closing time
Residential: The most expensive residential sale recorded Thursday was $8.1 million for 1289 Lexington Avenue, 17A. The Upper East Side condo at the Hayworth is new construction and is 3,600 square feet. Brown Harris Stevens’ Ben Haymes has the listing.
Commercial: The most expensive commercial transaction was $33.5 million for 10 East 30th Street. The NoMad property contains both a 20-story hotel designed by Baobab Architects and a parking garage. Rolls Yacht Tower Management took out a $20 million mortgage to purchase the property.
New to the Market: The highest price for a residential property hitting the market was $5.5 million for 76 North 8th Street, Unit PH. The Williamsburg condo is 2,300 square feet. Serhant’s Brandon Bogard, Mallory Bogard and Lauren Snisky have the listing.
Breaking Ground: The largest new building permit filed was for a proposed 24,019-square-foot, eight-story, mixed-use building at 30-26 21st Street in Astoria. Haris Mamagakis of Noesis Designs Architecture is the applicant of record.
— Joseph Jungermann