Protesters waving signs reading “Freeze the Rent” and “REBNY Raised My Rent” stationed themselves on the sidewalk outside the Glasshouse, a Hell’s Kitchen venue where the Real Estate Board of New York was hosting its annual gala last year.
Among the tenants and activists gathered outside the event, nicknamed the “Liar’s Ball,” was Zohran Mamdani, then a New York assemblymember and mayoral hopeful. He’d just announced his candidacy three months prior, and though his winning was seen by most as a longshot, Mamdani’s campaign fundraising efforts had already started to outpace some of his opponents.
One of the pillars of his platform was a vow to halt rent hikes for tenants of rent-stabilized properties — a pledge he repeated loudly and proudly that didn’t win him any favors with the city’s real estate players, many of whom were looking down on the protests from six floors above.
Fast forward a year, and Mamdani is now the 112th mayor of New York City, much to the chagrin of many in the industry, who shelled out millions in an effort to thwart his victory and keep his Democratic socialist ideologies out of Gracie Mansion. After four years of a relative reprieve under Mayor Eric Adams, it seemed real estate would be back as the city government’s ghouls.
“Let’s not demonize real estate,” David Schechtman of Meridian Investment Sales said at the 2026 edition of the REBNY gala, at the Waldorf Astoria. “For many years, we’ve held up this city.”
Despite its opposition to Mamdani, after the general election, it seemed the mayor — who had already admitted he’d changed his mind about the role of private developers in solving the city’s housing crisis — was prepared to at least listen to industry stakeholders.
Shortly after his win, Mamdani held closed-door meetings with developers, lenders and investors including Tishman Speyer CEO Rob Speyer, Two Trees CEO and REBNY chair Jed Walentas and Nadeem Meghji, global co-head of real estate at Blackstone, among others, where he assured them that his administration would be open to hearing their concerns.
“It’s important for the politicians to embrace the real estate industry. We pay the bills.”
Then he made a series of appointments that appeared relatively promising. He tapped Leila Bozorg as the deputy mayor of housing and planning. Bozorg previously served as Adams’ executive director of housing and has been credited as a key figure in passing the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity legislation, which many in the industry heralded as a significant step toward increasing development.
He also added Ahmed Tigani, another Adams alumnus, to his administration as the Commissioner of the Department of Buildings.
But his first few official actions didn’t signal cooperation, though he continues to hammer the idea that the private sector should play a role in new development. He tapped a longtime foe of landlords to oversee a tenant protection agency, then announced the city would host a series of hearings that set the stage for public landlord shaming sessions.
“It absolutely smelled, looked and felt like a very meaningful signal shift,” said Peter Hungerford, CEO of PH Realty Capital, which, along with its partners, has been one of the most active buyers of rent-stabilized buildings in recent years. He described several of Mamdani’s first moves as “more confrontational and aggressive to owners.”
Now many in the industry are once again preparing to be cast as henchmen contributing to all of the city’s ills.
“Within just a few hours of the inauguration, [Mamdani] immediately maintained the position that current property owners are the bogeyman,” Kenny Burgos, CEO of the New York Apartment Association, said. “It cannot be true that every single operator is suddenly a slumlord.”
Hal Fetner, CEO of Fetner Properties, expressed uncertainty about the new mayoral administration, pointing to Mamdani’s focus on relying on city government to improve housing affordability, rather than through partnership with the private sector.
“Politics in the city right now, I would say, it’s scary,” Fetner said at the gala. “It’s not about freezing the rents.”
Out of the gates
Once sworn into office, Mamdani hit the ground running.
On his first day as mayor, Mamdani signed an executive order reviving the city’s dormant Office to Protect Tenants and appointing renter activist Cea Weaver as its director.
The choice to tap Weaver, viewed as an adversary by many in the landlord contingent, was a concerning one for many of the city’s multifamily players. Weaver, previously the director of New York State Tenant Bloc and Housing Justice for All, played a central role in passing the 2019 rent laws, which owners of rent-stabilized properties credit for the distress plaguing their portfolios.
The scrutiny intensified days later when a few of her old tweets resurfaced in news articles, including one calling homeownership “a weapon of white supremacy.” (Weaver later backtracked on the sentiments expressed in her previous posts in an interview with NY1’s Errol Louis, describing the language in the tweets as “inelegant” and “regretful.” )
Weaver “seems pretty committed to destroying property rights,” Hungerford said.
Hungerford also criticized her previous comments advocating for more city-owned housing through the New York City Housing Authority, or NYCHA, which he called the “absolute poster child for New York City’s worst landlord.”
“There’s a fundamental disconnect between this administration right now and reality, and if that’s who Mamdani is going to appoint and that’s their belief, it’s so far from realistic,” Hungerford said.
Two days later, Mamdani and Weaver announced the city’s intention to intervene in the legal battle over 5,000 rent-stabilized apartments owned by one of the city’s largest landlords, Joel Weiner’s Pinnacle Group — a portfolio which was then set to be auctioned off on Jan. 8. The administration attempted to pause the sale to the proposed buyer, Summit Properties, over concerns that the firm wouldn’t be able to make the necessary repairs — a bid a bankruptcy judge ultimately rejected. Summit, which had agreed to pay roughly $450 million for the portfolio, was confirmed as the buyer a week later.
Then came the “Rental Ripoff” hearings announcement. On his first Monday at the helm of the city, Mamdani signed another executive order instituting the hearings aimed at allowing tenants to air their grievances with landlords in front of a group of city agencies including Weaver’s. The order mandated that hearings in every borough be underway within Mamdani’s first 100 days in office, with the goal of producing a report based on the content.
Though the order mentioned landlords and property managers as potential speakers, as The Real Deal’s Erik Engquist pointed out in a column, “that is kind of like inviting sheep to a gathering of wolves.” The administration intends the hearings to be a place for renters and activists to share stories of “illegal, unfair, abusive, deceptive, or unconscionable landlord practices” — likely setting the stage for future policy decisions, such as freezing the rents for rent-stabilized properties, a goal Mamdani has been vocal about achieving (though, the authority to do so rests with the Rent Guidelines Board).
“A lot of this comes off as very theatrical and not policy-based,” Burgos said. “It’s simply a public display to build up support for his goal of a rent freeze come June. He knows the numbers won’t support a rent freeze, so he needs to create the story arc.”
When Mamdani was a no-show at REBNY’s January gala, real estate players took note.
“The fact that our mayor is not going to be here tonight, I think, is wrong,” James Wacht, founding partner and managing principal of Lee & Associates, said at the gala. ”It’s important for the politicians to embrace the real estate industry. We pay the bills.”
The Soloviev Group’s Michael Hershman told TRD the mayor’s absence was a “missed opportunity.”
“It’s in the best interests of the real estate community and the mayor to be able to sit down and talk about what’s best for the city, what’s best for the people of the city,” he said. “And if we do that with kind of an open mind, I think we can find common ground.”
Also at the gala, David Falk, president of Newmark’s tri-state region, expressed concern about a breakdown in communication between the city and real estate.
“We are not adversaries,” he said. “Forget what was going on during the running for office and the different candidates, the real estate industry just wants someone that can be their advocate.”
Friends, enemies or frenemies?
What do you call a builder who hasn’t started collecting rent? A developer. And for now, it appears that distinction still provides them with cover from Mamdani.
“We’re very optimistic about this administration’s real focus on affordable housing. I think it’s the clearest focus on affordable housing we’ve ever seen,” said David Schwartz, co-founder of Slate Property Group, nodding to the appointments of Bozorg and Tigani as positive signs.
While landlords are once again back in the hot seat, the mayor appears much more willing to engage with the city’s developers. He’s acknowledged multiple times that the city is in desperate need of more housing, and has even relaxed his previous views that the only way to build more housing is by working with nonprofit developers to construct city-owned properties.
“At first we were worried, but I give him a lot of credit,” Schwartz said. “I don’t think a lot of politicians do that and change their opinion, even when they realize they may have said something wrong. I think some of them double down.”
Mamdani’s tentative friendliness is different from previous administrations, such as Mayor Bill De Blasio’s, which equated development with gentrification and often vilified developers.
“If we look at the story arc of Mayor Mamdani’s primary campaign until today, there certainly has been a moderation, specifically in terms of the development of housing and the role of private industry,” Burgos said.
Bozorg and Tigani did show up to the gala, signaling that hope is not lost in terms of the industry having a seat at the table.
“I’m the optimistic one in the room,” said developer Spencer Levine, president of RAL Companies. “Since the inauguration, there definitely has been a different projection of the conversation and attitude, but that might just be him feeling his ground. It’s way too early to see.”
However, others say an understanding between the city and the industry won’t happen if the mayor doesn’t tone down his rhetoric.
“He needs to pivot and stop campaigning and start governing,” Peter Rigardi, chairman and president of JLL’s tri-state region, said at the REBNY gala.
“His mission for affordable housing is a noble and needed one, but it’s not going to happen with just energetic, young ideas,” he added. “He needs to marry that with experience and the right capital that makes these types of projects happen.”
Kathy Wylde, the former head of the Partnership for New York City who helped organize initial meetings between the mayor and industry leaders, said the administration is still getting up and running, and that the first few actions were likely easy fixes that would signal to his base that he’s staying true to his word.
However, she emphasized that the administration is by no means closed off to the idea of continued meetings with real estate stakeholders, and reported that members of the administration have said that they will likely open their schedules around March, after they finish hiring and the city budget proposal.
“This administration really had to campaign until the polls closed on Nov. 5, so to be fair, they did not have the usual window in regard to key appointments,” Wylde said. “My message is just give it a little time.”
— Lilah Burke contributed reporting