CRE Attorney Elise Wagner Retires After 44-Year Career: 5 Questions

Elise Wagner, one of New York City’s leading land use and development attorneys, has officially retired after a storied 44-year career working on influential rezoning approvals and development projects.

Wagner’s most recent role was at global law firm HSF Kramer (formerly Kramer Levin), where she worked for more than 20 years and advised high-profile real estate owners, developers and nonprofit institutions on navigating land use issues. In January 2023, Wagner was promoted to co-chair of HSF Kramer’s land use practice alongside Paul D. Selver.

During her career, Wagner worked to pass countless historic rezonings, such as the OneLIC Neighborhood Plan in Long Island City, Queens. The zoning reforms have the potential to help create 14,700 new homes and 3.5 million square feet of commercial and industrial space in the neighborhood.

She also advised The Walt Disney Company on zoning and historic preservation issues during the sale of its West 66th Street ABC campus and West End Avenue buildings to Silverstein Properties in 2018.

And, while Wagner officially retired at the end of 2025, “being retired doesn’t mean you drop off the face of the Earth,” she said. Wagner plans to stay involved in New York City’s commercial real estate landscape through various organizations, including the Urban Land Institute, the Urban Design Forum and the New York University Furman Center.

Wagner spoke with Commercial Observer last week to discuss her retirement, her favorite projects throughout her career, and what issues she believes New York City must still address.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Commercial Observer: How would you describe your 44-year career as a land use attorney in New York City? What were your favorite projects?

Elise Wagner: I had the opportunity to work on some of the most interesting projects in the city of New York — everything ranging from a rezoning of a very large area in Long Island City, Queens, which will turn an industrial area into a mixed-use area with waterfront access for the first time. It will be a huge project. So it’s everything from that to working on issues related to the landmark designation of single-family homes, and a whole lot of other things in between.

I would say what distinguished my career, among other things, is the variety. One of the wonderful things about being a land use lawyer is that you are involved with the city, and you are involved in so many aspects of the city. I worked for nonprofits, hospitals and universities, as well as for large commercial buildings and large residential buildings. So I think the variety of what I worked on really distinguishes my career.

One of the projects that was really special to me was working on the connection between the 6 and F subway lines at East 51st and 53rd streets. I was working on a building called 599 Lexington Avenue, and we did one of those subway improvements where — and I’ve worked on a number of those that have involved stairs and elevators, which are, of course, very important — where the client builds stairs and elevators down to the subway in exchange for some additional floor area. So this one was connecting two subway lines, which, to me, is a really terrific thing, because people use it every single day, and they wouldn’t be able to connect between those two subway lines without it. So that one really sticks in my mind, and that one probably was 35 years ago.

It’s a really long time ago, and the work that I had to do, you might think was somewhat mundane. It was negotiating an agreement with the transit authority. You know, I’m not the engineer who’s designing the subway improvement, but I’m doing the legal work, and negotiating with the transit authority allowed that subway connection to be built. That, to me, is something I feel really proud of.

What do you think is the biggest issue in New York City that should be addressed right now?

I mean, really, it’s housing. There’s not enough housing for the people of New York. There isn’t enough variety of types of housing and housing for people of different income levels. And I think that is critical. It’s a really hard thing to address, because the problem has built up over many years where the housing market has gotten tighter and tighter, and not enough housing has been built, and not enough money has been put into housing by the government. So it’s just snowballed.

There are many things that are really important, but I think for the people of the city of New York, building more housing and figuring out how to build it at scale — not just a couple hundred units here and there, but really large amounts of housing — is really important to make the city a really livable place for all its people.

When it comes to housing, what would you say is the biggest challenge that developers are facing? What policies could address that, especially given there’s a new mayor?

I think the biggest issue right now is that in order to build rental housing in New York, you need to have tax incentives. Financially, it just doesn’t pencil out to do it without the tax incentives. That used to be 421a and now it’s 485x. Those are both state programs. The city doesn’t control those. The 485x program is structured in a way that doesn’t really make sense for developers, unless the building is less than 99 units, which is ridiculous, because then you end up with smaller projects. 

So, I think, if the state could do something about 421a, that would make a big difference in terms of jump-starting additional private development in the city.

I’m not sure what the new mayor’s policies on housing are yet — I don’t think he’s really articulated them. He’s appointed Leila Bozorg as his deputy mayor for housing, and she’s a very experienced, very smart person. So I think that’s positive. The best thing that the mayor can do is rely on people who have a lot of experience in city government about what works and what doesn’t. And not try to do everything all at once, but try to, really, project by project and program by program, get housing done, and really rely on people who’ve done it before. 

Government is really complicated, and it’s important to have vision. It really is, and I respect the new mayor’s vision, but it’s really important to have practical knowledge about how to get things done within city government. I hope that he really listens to those people with experience to help him get things done.

What advice would you give to young attorneys starting out in the CRE field?

I guess the advice that I would give is to take any opportunity you can to work with smart people who have worked on interesting projects and done a lot of interesting things. I think what helped make me a really good lawyer — and I hope that I was — is the people that I had the opportunity to work with. I was incredibly lucky at a young age to work with John Zuccotti, who had been a deputy mayor and a chair of the Planning Commission and who was a brilliant strategist and just brilliant at getting people to work together. Just sitting in a room with him taught me so much about negotiation and so on.

And then I had the opportunity for 44 years to work with Paul Selver, who is just a brilliant zoning lawyer, and listening to him and looking at the creative way that he analyzed issues has really taught me an incredible amount.

So I think learning from people and not being afraid to really sit and listen and ask questions is the most important thing for younger lawyers just getting started.

What will you miss most about your job?

I think the people. I was most recently a partner at HSF Kramer, and our land use department there is composed of some really terrific people that I love. I worked with some of them for many, many years. I’ll miss the various consultants I worked with, and I’ll also miss the people in city government who I work with on a regular basis, who I respect a great deal. There are a lot of very dedicated people who work in city government. A lot of them are unsung heroes. They work hard. They really try to do the best for the city. And I respect them, and I’ve really enjoyed working with them for many years.

Being retired doesn’t mean you drop off the face of the Earth. I’m planning on staying involved in various organizations like the Urban Land Institute and Urban Design Forum and the Furman Center. I’m on the board of several of those. Because, to me, New York City is such a wonderful place and such an exciting place to be. I would like to be involved in thinking about urban issues in the city, and I’d like to continue doing that on a volunteer basis, rather than on a basis where I’m representing my clients.

Isabelle Durso can be reached at idurso@commercialobserver.com.