New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s views have sparked fears that there will be an exodus of companies and capital from the city. But two of the city’s top commercial real estate executives say it’s simply not true, based on leasing activity and new building investments being made, with no pullback in plans ever since it became clear Mamdani would win, and through the democratic socialist’s official election.
“New York City is back,” said Scott Rechler, CEO of RXR Realty, at CNBC’s Delivering Alpha conference in New York on Thursday. “The people who work here, live here, they feel the energy, they have the conviction, and they have every right,” he said.
“In our business right now, we are seeing CEO after CEO committing to the city,” Rechler said. “We’re seeing a record level of leasing in office buildings. And it’s not just for next year, it’s for 2028, 2030, 2032,” he added.
“We will hit over 40 million square feet in commercial office leases signed at the end of this year,” said Bill Rudin, co-executive chairman of Rudin Management. “Companies are growing here,” he said. “We haven’t seen any diminishment in meetings with brokerage firms,” he said of activity since Mamdani’s election. “People keep saying, ‘any impact?’ No one has put their pencils down. No one is calling the moving trucks. Companies are expanding and taking space,” Rudin said.
