NYC Real-Estate Execs Throw Money Behind Adams to Counter Rise of Mamdani

It's lucky for New York that Voldemort gave Adams a get out of jail free card. Else the Big Apple would be Moscow West.

NYC Real-Estate Execs Throw Money Behind Adams to Counter Rise of Mamdani

Developers turn their backs on former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and host fundraisers for incumbent mayor

By Craig Karmin and Rebecca Picciotto, WSJ

July 8, 2025

Two men in suits shaking hands at the grand opening of Summit One Vanderbilt.

Marc Holliday greeted Eric Adams in 2021, when the current New York City mayor was still a candidate. Photo: Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg News

NYC real-estate execs are financially backing Mayor Eric Adams to block Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani, who wants a rent freeze.

New York City real-estate executives are throwing support and money behind incumbent Mayor Eric Adams in their fight to block Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani, who campaigned on a rent freeze to help solve the city’s housing crisis.

Marc Holliday, chief executive of the New York-based real-estate investment trust SL Green, is hosting an Adams fundraiser Wednesday at One Madison Avenue, one of his office towers.

He is inviting dozens of the city’s real-estate executives to a cocktail event on the Manhattan building’s rooftop, according to two people planning to go. Those who attend will pay about $2,000.

“There’s going to be a lot of these fundraisers,” said Noble Black, a New York City luxury real-estate broker. “Everyone is talking about how much wealth is aligning against Mamdani.”

In heavily Democratic New York City, Mamdani, as the winner of the Democratic primary, typically would be considered a strong favorite to win in the general election. The growing industry support for Adams, who is running for re-election on his own ballot lines, marks a pivot from only weeks ago, when the real-estate business mostly backed former Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. The industry spent millions of dollars on behalf of Cuomo’s primary campaign, according to public filings.

Even after he lost in the primary to Mamdani, Cuomo hasn’t ruled out running on a third-party ticket in the general election in November. But he is thinking about waiting until at least September to officially launch that campaign.

Much of the real-estate industry is now ready to back a different horse. On Saturday, real-estate power couple Kenneth and Maria Fishel co-hosted an Adams fundraiser in the Hamptons with New York City billionaires John and Margo Catsimatidis, real-estate investor Jared Epstein and others.

Epstein is planning other events for Adams in August, including a private dinner. He is also experimenting with digital-media tactics to rival the TikTok and Instagram strategies that Mamdani successfully employed in his primary run. Epstein said he is organizing campaign events in Montauk on Long Island, and Brooklyn to target young voters where social-media influencers will be in the audience to take photos and videos.

Mayor Adams with several guests at a Hamptons fundraiser.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams attended a fundraiser Saturday in the Hamptons, N.Y., co-hosted by real-estate power players and others. Photo: Daniela Ovalle

Adams faced calls to resign last year after federal prosecutors brought corruption charges against him. The Justice Department under President Trump earlier this year ordered prosecutors to drop those charges, but Adams remains a polarizing figure in the city.

Still, many in the real-estate community say they see him as their best bet for blocking Mamdani’s path to City Hall.

Black, the luxury broker, said that at smaller parties he attended in the Hamptons over the July Fourth weekend with real-estate, tech and Wall Street leaders, his conversations were partly focused on how to pressure Cuomo to step down to avoid fracturing the anti-Mamdani coalition.

Mamdani, a 33-year old assemblyman from Queens, won the primary largely by appealing to young New Yorkers on cost-of-living issues. His democratic-socialist campaign featured a proposed rent freeze on the city’s one million rent-stabilized apartments.

Zohran Mamdani shaking hands with union supporters at a press conference.

New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani has tried to make inroads to the business community. Photo: David Dee Delgado/Reuters

While he has garnered some support from certain younger millionaires, the real-estate pushback against him shows the tough road ahead for Mamdani if he hopes to win over the city’s wider business community—and especially its leaders.

Mamdani recently has made an effort to soften his stance and has spoken of working with private developers. Some of his other housing policies could more closely align with the interests of landlords, such as expediting land-use reviews, opening public land for development and rezoning for more residential projects.

His campaign also reached out to set up meetings with business trade groups such as the Real Estate Board of New York and the Partnership for New York City.

“With Eric Adams’ administration mired in financial scandals, these donors may want to reconsider where they’re placing their trust,” a Mamdani campaign spokesperson said. “Zohran is focused on bringing people together.”

For now, at least, Mamdani has failed to attract developer support, and industry leaders remain deeply skeptical.

Landlords say his rent freeze would suffocate their operating revenue and kill new investment to the city, though the law wouldn’t automatically apply to newly constructed housing units. Many developers also oppose Mamdani’s plans to raise taxes on companies.

A Mamdani administration “would be the death penalty for the city,” Danny Fishman, CEO of real-estate investment firm Gaia Real Estate, recently told The Wall Street Journal.

Andrew Cuomo speaking at a NYC mayoral election watch party.

Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo had been the beneficiary of support from the New York City real-estate industry. Photo: Yuki Iwamura/Associated Press

The property industry has been happy with Adams’s pro-development policies. His “City of Yes” initiative is attempting to build about 80,000 new housing units over the next 15 years. Adams has pushed for zoning and other policy changes to spur more housing, but hasn’t supported a rent freeze.

The city’s Rent Guidelines Board under Adams last month approved at least a 3% increase for rent-stabilizing apartments.

“Since the end of the primary, the phones at our campaign haven’t stopped ringing,” said Adams campaign spokesman Todd Shapiro. The real-estate community, he said, “is stepping up to support Mayor Adams.”