CRE Exhales As Mamdani Taps Adams, De Blasio Vets For Key Roles

New York City's commercial real estate industry has been on edge as it waits to see who Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani will take with him to City Hall when he is sworn into office in less than two weeks.

Now, with a handful of senior appointments to his administration, Mamdani, a Democratic socialist, has sent an early signal that experience is being valued over ideology.

The incoming mayor’s ascension has generated everything from consternation to defiance to cautious optimism since June's primary. Some in CRE remain apprehensive — but those who spoke to Bisnow over the past week were reassured by the fact that Mamdani's picks held senior roles under the past two mayors and former President Joe Biden. 

“I think what we're seeing is the beginnings of a very interesting administration,” Suri Kasirer, CEO of city lobbying firm Kasirer, said in an interview.

Last month, Mamdani named his chief of staff from Albany, Elle Bisgaard-Church, as his chief of staff in his new administration. He also tapped Dean Fuleihan, former first deputy mayor under Bill de Blasio, as first deputy mayor. He kept on Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, a Mayor Eric Adams appointee who is popular with the business community. 

Mamdani's picks have inspired confidence for CRE, Fried Frank partner Anita Laremont said. The 34-year-old mayor-elect — who has no experience running an organization anywhere near the size of the nation's largest city — tapped people who demonstrate he has taken in the business world’s feedback.

“I have heard that there is some comfort in seeing a person like Dean Fuleihan, who has years of experience in government, being placed in a role as important as this,” Laremont said.

Fuleihan is a 74-year-old civil servant whose résumé includes more than 30 years in various posts in the State Assembly plus time as the city's budget director.

Some CRE players who previously poured dollars into former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s campaign in the hopes of beating Mamdani remain apprehensive. Mamdani's pledge to freeze rents and fund affordability programs such as free buses and childcare with increased taxes on the wealthy are still policies that developers like Extell Development’s Gary Barnett oppose.

“The engines of creating taxes and revenue for the city are real estate,” Barnett told Israeli investors in response to a question on a Nov. 30 conference call, a recording of which was obtained by Bisnow via the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. “Tax them, the rich — short term, that might feel good and generate monies. Of course, five minutes later, there’s no more building going on in the city.”

Barnett conceded, however, that Mamdani’s appointments at that time were “pretty reasonable.”

“He's appointing experienced people,” Barnett said. “Most of them are not far-out, lefty, stars in the eyes.”

Mamdani announced four more appointments last week. Most relevant to the industry was Mamdani naming Leila Bozorg, Adams’ executive director of housing, whose work has included negotiating City of Yes with the city council, as his deputy mayor for housing and planning.

Her ascension shows that Mamdani understands the proficiency needed to build on Adams’ self-proclaimed legacy as the “most pro-housing mayor in history" and deliver on his own housing goals, Kasirer said.

Bozorg is an “outstanding choice for a critical role,” she added.  

“I've seen firsthand her ability to advance ambitious housing initiatives that will create tens of thousands of new homes,” Kasirer said. “She understands both the urgency of New York's housing crisis and the complex mechanics of actually building at scale.” 

Sherif Soliman, who worked in senior roles involving policy as well as at the Department of Finance and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, will serve as Mamdani’s director of the Office of Budget and Management. He also served as executive director of the New York City Advisory Commission on Property Tax Reform.

His property tax familiarity shows that Mamdani means business when it comes to his tax reform campaign promise, which was popular among both voters and CRE players.

Additionally, Soliman’s time as de Blasio’s Department of Finance commissioner makes him well-placed to handle the mammoth undertaking of coming up with Mamdani’s preliminary budget, due by Jan. 16. 

“If you're not familiar with the city budget, or you haven't been involved in the city budget before, it's a massive undertaking,” Kasirer said. “You have to rely on those people that have that kind of familiarity because he also has such an aggressive and clear and focused and thoughtful agenda.”

She added that the mix of people with city and state experience who “understand New York very, very deeply,” alongside younger people with fresh ideas, is indicative of the mayor-elect’s understanding of how prepared he needs to be to make asks to Albany for help meeting his goals.

The other two appointments announced last week were Julie Su as the city’s first deputy mayor for economic justice and Jahmila Edwards as head of the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs. Su and Edwards are, respectively, a former federal Department of Labor acting secretary and a longtime union leader. 

But even with Mamdani’s newly announced personnel, the appointment bringing CRE the highest level of comfort remains Tisch’s reappointment as police commissioner. 

Mamdani faced pressure to keep Tisch in her current role. Tisch has been credited with record drops in crime rates, with many in NYC CRE believing that her continued tenure is fundamental to making the city feel safe.

“The police commissioner was a big deal for those of us that know that safety and security of New Yorkers is an existential issue to our industry, and our business, and the life of our city,” MAG Partners CEO MaryAne Gilmartin said. “We were very, very pleased with that.”

While real estate's worst fears of a city run by novices have been avoided, the industry is still skeptical of Mamdani's ability to deliver more housing and job growth amid a broadly socialist agenda.

“He does need to make the city work. That is what he is going to be judged on,” Laremont said. “Understanding that, I think, is a positive.”