New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has spent nearly 11 months in office promising to transfer buildings out of the hands of “bad” landlords and into the hands of “good stewards.” Despite this stated goal, the administration has not produced a long list of completed transfers. High-profile cases where the administration attempted to intervene have largely failed, leaving the mayor’s office with little concrete evidence of success in this area.
The Pinnacle Group Case
The first major test came shortly after the mayor’s inauguration. He moved to stop the bankruptcy sale of 5,000 mostly rent-stabilized apartments owned by affiliates of the Pinnacle Group. The previous administration, under Eric Adams, had also attempted to buy time for a preservation-focused buyer to step in, according to court records. Mamdani’s office turned the effort into a direct confrontation. The buildings were sold to an affiliate of Summit Properties.
The Emerald Equities Portfolio
Next came the administration’s attempt to help Spatial Equity Co. acquire 38 buildings that had been foreclosed upon by Emerald Equities. City Hall supported the bid, but the plan did not work. Spatial Equity was rebuffed, and the buildings went to auction earlier this week. A portion of the portfolio is scheduled to be sold next week. In this instance, the administration kept its involvement quiet and did not confirm the bid to reporters.
Crown Heights and the Schwartz Deal
In September, the mayor’s office released a press release celebrating the sale of three Crown Heights buildings. After a complicated legal saga, New Jersey investor Mark Schwartz purchased the properties. Schwartz had an agreement with the tenant union in the buildings. However, the City Reporter later revealed that Schwartz has a questionable track record as a landlord, pointing to disrepair at some of his buildings.
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City Hall didn’t have anything to do with the sale of the buildings to Schwartz. This raises questions about why the administration issued a press release cheering the transfer, especially when details about Schwartz’s background were unclear.
In response to the City Reporter story, Cea Weaver, who leads tenant protection efforts for the city, said in a written statement that standing by tenants organizing is a key part of the mayor’s housing plan, and that the administration will continue to enforce the housing code.
The administration’s approach to these transfers has been cautious. When the mayor’s office has managed to facilitate a transfer, it has rarely publicized the details unless a deal is fully finalized and favorable.
Meanwhile, in other parts of the city, real estate transactions continue to move forward. For instance, the most expensive residential sale recorded recently was $12.6 million for a 2,995-square-foot condominium at 275 West 10th Street in the West Village. On the commercial side, Doron Greenberg purchased a 95-unit apartment building at 100 Lenox Road in Flatbush for $52 million from Binyamin Beitel of Beitel Group. The largest new building permit filed was for a proposed 23,836-square-foot, 30-unit project at 3009 Barker Avenue in the Bronx. Additionally, a townhouse at 64 West 87th Street on the Upper West Side has hit the market with a price tag of $10.45 million, after last selling for $10.3 million in August 2023.
