Trump, Mamdani Advance Sunnyside Yards Housing Discussion 

President Donald Trump and New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani forged common ground Monday to advance an affordable housing plan at an Amtrak-controlled train yard in Sunnyside, Queens.

Mamdani and Trump said in a Monday evening press conference after meeting at Gracie Mansion that dialogue will continue on avenues to get federal approvals for long-stalled plans to build 12,000 affordable housing units over Sunnyside Yards.

“We’ve agreed to set up a new level of that conversation between our housing and operations team at City Hall and the White House team,” Mamdani said at the press conference while standing beside Trump outside Gracie Mansion. “We are sincerely interested and committed to this as an idea, which is why it’s been the focus of the conversations I’ve had with the president.”

Monday’s meeting came nearly seven months after Mamdani met with Trump at the White House in late February and asked for $21 billion in federal grants to fund a platform for the housing project. 

The Sunnyside Yard development would include 12,000 housing units, half funded by New York State’s Mitchell-Lama affordable housing program, along with parks and schools. The plan was first pitched under then-Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration and widely opposed by local residents. 

“I would say that it’s a very federal-oriented job,” Trump said at the press conference. “You’re going to need a lot of federal approvals and probably some federal money to do it. But it’s always been a great location.”

Andrew Coen can be reached at acoen@commercialobserver.com.