Commercial Real Estate Notables On Zohran Mamdani’s First 100 Days

One hundred days into Zohran Mamdani’s mayoralty, neither the greatest hopes nor the greatest fears about the Mamdani administration have come to pass.

Buses are not free. Rent-stabilized rents are not frozen. And the city’s wealthy have not barnstormed off to Florida en masse.

Of course, progress — just like regress — takes time. 

“Grading a mayor at 100 days is a bit like grading a student’s semester performance after the first week of class: You can assess engagement and intention, as well as success in coming to the table with different constituencies and stakeholders, but the work product hasn’t come in yet,” said Sam Chandan, founding director and professor at the Chen Institute for Global Real Estate Finance at the New York University Stern School of Business.

So, while comprehensive conclusions about an elected politician’s effectiveness don’t reasonably form overnight, Mayor Mamdani has put his stamp on the city in everything from appointments that reinforce his democratic socialist agenda to the continuation of a social media strategy that allows him to not only talk directly to New Yorkers, but also to show them firsthand how he’s hard at work on their behalf. 

New York Mayor Ed Koch used to ask, “How’m I doin’?” Zohran Mamdani tries to show us instead.

But to get a clearer picture of how Mayor Mamdani is actually doing from the perspective of the commercial real estate community, we asked a number of industry VIPs for their takes on Mamdani’s performance in his first 100 days, along with a letter grade to sum up his performance within six key categories: crime and public safety, transportation, taxes, the Rent Guidelines Board, zoning and land use, and general relations with New York City’s business community. 

Most participants weighed in on all six. Some weighed in on a few. Many others not quoted here demurred completely. 

Here’s a look at how several people in various sectors and occupations within New York commercial real estate perceive the mayor’s first 100 days, and what they might portend for the remainder of Mamdani’s tenure. 

CRIME AND PUBLIC SAFETY

• Crime continues to trend downward citywide. The open question is his relationship with rank-and-file police and whether that translates into sustained operational effectiveness. B — Steven Fulop, president and CEO of business group the Partnership for New York City

• Retaining Jessica Tisch as police commissioner and continuing to drive crime down in most categories is a good start for the mayoral administration. — Jim Whelan, president of the Real Estate Board of New York. (Whelan declined to submit letter grades.) 

• The headline numbers are strong. The New York Police Department reported the fewest murders and shooting incidents on record for a first quarter, with major crime down more than 5 percent citywide. Those are not trivial statistics. These trends do substantially predate this administration, reflecting continuity in precision policing strategies, personnel and investments that were already in place. 

The administration’s early posture has favored continuity in core enforcement strategies while signaling interest in prevention-oriented complements. The creation of the Office of Community Safety and the appointment of a deputy mayor for community safety represent an early step toward institutionalizing prevention-oriented approaches, which is a reasonable evolution if it complements rather than displaces proven enforcement strategies.

What cannot be overlooked is the sharp rise in hate crimes, which increased nearly 12 percent in the first quarter. Antisemitic incidents accounted for 55 percent of all confirmed hate crimes, despite Jewish New Yorkers making up roughly 10 percent of the city’s population. These attacks are intolerable and have no place in New York City. A city that prides itself on being the most diverse in the world must treat the safety of its Jewish residents, and every faith community, as non-negotiable. For the real estate industry, public safety is foundational to tenant confidence, foot traffic and investment decisions, and the current trajectory on major crime is encouraging. 

The question going forward is whether the administration can sustain those gains while building out its community safety infrastructure and confronting the hate crime problem with the seriousness it demands. Incomplete, trending B — Sam Chandan

• Incomplete —Bob Knakal, chairman and CEO of investment sales brokerage BK Real Estate Advisors

TRANSPORTATION

• Raising parking reform as a revenue lever showed political willingness to engage a tough issue. The creation of the Office of Curb Management is a positive step. That said, it’s still conceptual — execution and follow-through will determine whether it matters. B — Fulop

• It was good to see an abandonment of the “free buses” dream, as they just would have been mobile homes for homeless folks: AC in the summer and heat in the winter. Incomplete. — Knakal

• Mayor Mamdani handled snow removal well during the seemingly never-ending winter. His performance has been commendable. Moving forward, it is imperative that the city continue to work with the state regarding buses and subways. B — Bernadette Brennan, executive director at brokerage Serhant Commercial

• The operational response to a brutal winter was visible and competent: 100,000 potholes filled, strong snow-clearing mobilization, and a restart of stalled bike and bus lane projects. These are the kinds of quality-of-life fundamentals that matter to tenants, commuters and property owners alike. The advocacy for fare-free buses is ambitious and conceptually appealing from a mode-shift perspective, but initial plans for universal implementation have given way to what now appears to be a narrower pilot approach, and the initiative continues to face opposition from the governor.

From a market perspective, the priority is a transportation strategy that connects explicitly to land use, supporting density near transit corridors and making the case for development in underserved areas with improved connectivity. That link has not yet been made clearly by this administration, but the building blocks are there. Incomplete, trending B-minus — Chandan

TAXES

• The campaign framing was that funding priorities wouldn’t rely on broad tax increases. In practice, that position has shifted toward a wide range of proposed taxes that feel more politically driven than economically grounded. D — Fulop

• Data clearly shows New York City is the highest-taxed city in the country and, despite solid increases in annual tax revenue, continues to spend beyond its means. Further increasing taxes will make us less competitive and bar families and businesses from staying and growing in New York City. — Whelan

• He originally suggested a 9.5 percent property tax increase, then 5 percent, now it seems like he is giving up on this. The inheritance tax proposal was misguided and would definitely make people leave New York City. F — Knakal

• The proposed property taxes have sellers and buyers nervous. I recently had a client — a buyer — who has been a renter for years. They were just about to close on a property and pulled out right before close because of this, and will continue renting due to what they have heard. The average New Yorker is squeezed from every angle. If they can afford to own, they should be able to. F — Brennan

• This is the area of greatest concern for the commercial real estate community, and where the administration’s early positioning has raised the most concern. The push for higher taxes on New Yorkers earning over $1 million, increased corporate tax rates, and a proposed property tax increase framed as a last resort has unsettled the business community and raised legitimate questions about competitiveness. 

To be fair, the fiscal reality this administration inherited is serious. The city’s preliminary budget, after revisions and additional state aid, described a remaining two-year projected gap of roughly $5.4 billion. That is a real number, and it deserves a serious conversation. The transparency about the scale of the problem is welcome, and every responsible stakeholder should acknowledge that the city faces a genuine structural gap. 

The question is whether the revenue strategy accounts for the behavioral responses of mobile capital and high-earning households. The empirical literature on millionaire migration is more nuanced than the rhetoric on either side suggests, but the policy risk is real and asymmetric: If even a modest share of high earners relocate, the revenue shortfall compounds rather than resolves. These concerns have been amplified by broader Sun Belt expansion trends, including expansion planning by several large firms weighing Sun Belt markets. 

What the industry needs is a fiscal framework that closes the gap without undermining the tax competitiveness that supports job creation, development and long-term revenue growth. That conversation has not yet happened in a way that includes the business community as a constructive participant. Incomplete, trending C-plus — Chandan

RENT GUIDELINES BOARD (RGB)

• Actions are tracking exactly with campaign expectations, including pursuit of a rent freeze. Predictable, but not a departure from prior positioning. However, without substantial cost reforms and a detailed plan to fix the property tax structure, the affordability crisis will worsen with a rent freeze. C-minus —Fulop

• Rent Guidelines Board members are required by law to act in the public interest, balancing tenant affordability and owner viability. Mayor Mamdani has essentially pre-empted that process with his calls for zero increases by the board. The results will be greater financial and operational challenges for older, heavily rent-regulated buildings, fewer available apartments, and a city that is even less affordable. — Whelan

• The rent freeze risks placing continued strain on landlords while failing to address underlying issues like fair-market housing and price gouging. Instead of creating long-term stability, it may ultimately lead to sharper rent increases down the line. F — Brennan

• The administration moved quickly to appoint a board majority, naming six members including a new chair. Given the mayor’s campaign pledge of a four-year rent freeze, the appointments will inevitably be read through that lens. No one should be surprised by this. It was a central campaign commitment, and the mayor is acting on it. 

The RGB’s first public hearing surfaced the expected tension: Industry and RGB discussions have emphasized rising aggregate net operating income in some datasets, while owners of older stabilized buildings argue that those averages mask severe distress driven by constrained revenue, rising insurance costs, and the cumulative impact of the 2019 Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act. 

A blanket freeze applied uniformly across a heterogeneous housing stock is an imprecise tool. The policy question is not whether tenants face affordability pressures. They do. The question is whether a freeze, without targeted relief mechanisms for distressed properties, risks accelerating disinvestment in the buildings that serve the most vulnerable tenants. That is an empirical question the RGB process should take seriously.

It is also worth stepping back and recognizing that ensuring a strong and growing supply of affordable and attainable housing is essential to the city’s long-term competitiveness. Employers across every sector need their workers to be able to live in the city at a reasonable cost. That goal is shared by tenants, building owners, employers and policymakers alike. 

The larger question is whether the long-term interests of tenants and responsible building owners are as opposed as the political framing can sometimes suggest. Preservation of the existing affordable housing stock requires capital investment, and capital investment requires economically viable operating conditions. Incomplete, trending C — Chandan

• From a real estate perspective, he is impacting two different sectors in two very different ways. The rent-stabilized housing market is getting crushed and will continue to until major change happens. That change will come about when folks realize that math will sink the ship. There will be no money for repairs, and all buildings with regulated tenants will implode without change. 

For development, he has been relatively positive. We need supply to solve the housing crisis, and he appears to understand this. — From the industry’s perspective, A. From the perspective of freezing rents, which was a campaign pledge, F —Knakal

ZONING AND LAND USE

• Early signals are pro-growth, particularly on housing. The rhetoric, combined with proposals like building apartments over the Sunnyside, Queens, rail yards, points in the right direction. Lack of leadership at the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) is a gap that limits momentum. B-plus — Fulop

• It is too early to comment. The new City Planning chair only recently took on the position. — Whelan

• In what has been a very pleasant surprise, the mayor appears to be very pro-development. The reality is we need more housing, and I think he realizes that if you ask for too much affordability, you get nothing built. Astoria Cove [a long-delayed residential project in Queens] is a case in point. A — Knakal

• The appointment of Sideya Sherman to lead City Planning signals continuity in some respects. The administration has said it will build on the City of Yes framework, but the emphasis is shifting toward equity-centered planning. The key question for commercial real estate is execution. The Adams administration said City of Yes and related rezonings could enable roughly 130,000 additional housing units. Whether that capacity translates into actual construction depends on the regulatory environment, tax incentive structures (particularly questions about whether the state’s 485x development incentive is workable at scale), and the speed of environmental and permitting review. 

The stated interest in transit-oriented development and industrial-zone rezoning is encouraging, and there is reason to be cautiously optimistic that this administration will not abandon the progress that has been made. The administration has not yet made the case that production, and not just planning, is a priority, or that it will work with the development community to remove barriers to building. 

New York’s ability to attract and retain talent depends on housing being available at price points that work for a broad cross-section of the workforce. That case has not yet been made explicitly, but neither has the door been closed. Incomplete, trending B-minus — Chandan

RELATIONS WITH THE BUSINESS COMMUNITY

• Too early to call. The real test is whether the administration is willing to make difficult, structural decisions on city finances and show independence from its left flank. There’s an opening, but no proof yet. Incomplete — Fulop

• The mayor’s appointees overseeing and running basic government services are competent and capable. The administration, however, is still without a permanent Economic Development Corporation president or a senior official with considerable business expertise. The mayor’s outreach to the business community appears limited, and the administration seems hesitant to promote investment and job creation by major companies. — Whelan

• At least he met with [J.P. Morgan CEO] Jamie Dimon. Bill de Blasio did not do that once in the eight years he was in office. C — Knakal 

• First-quarter commercial leasing data from JLL shows Manhattan office demand up, vacancies declining and rents rising, which suggests that capital allocation decisions are, for now, still being driven by fundamentals rather than political rhetoric. 

The market data and the political rhetoric are telling different stories right now. That is a good sign, and it should give the administration confidence that the private sector remains committed to New York. At the same time, this is where the tension is most visible, and also where there is the most room for improvement on both sides. The “tax the rich” framing, the proposed corporate rate increases, and the administration’s high-conflict posture toward Albany have heightened concern across the business community. The Partnership for New York City has been vocal, and prominent corporate leaders have signaled that the city’s competitive position is under scrutiny. 

The opportunity now is to channel the private sector’s continued commitment into a more productive dialogue. For that dialogue to be productive, the industry must be treated as a stakeholder in solving the city’s fiscal and housing challenges, not only as a source of revenue. And the industry, for its part, needs to come to the table with constructive proposals, not just opposition. The relationship is strained but not broken, and there is still time to set a more collaborative tone for the balance of this term. Incomplete, trending C-plus — Chandan

Larry Getlen can be reached at lgetlen@commercialobserver.com.