Deep-pocketed financiers with ties to the New York real estate industry are still putting their money behind the contested three-term governor Andrew Cuomo, campaign records show.
Developers, landlords, home financiers and other industry representatives have pumped nearly $ 500,000 into Cuomo’s re-election coffers in the past six months.
That’s more than 20 percent of the $ 2.3 million Cuomo raised for the first half of 2021.
Many of the donations were received shortly before the fundraising deadline for the campaign.
Housing activists blew up the donations, finding an important state law expiring on June 15 that would give luxury developer projects generous tax breaks for collecting off-market or “affordable” rents on up to 30 percent of their new homes.
The program is supported by the Real Estate Board of New York, which Cuomo donated $ 5,000 from its Political Action Committee.
“It’s classic pay-to-play. There is no doubt, ”Michael McKee is charged with political donations to Cuomo from Tenants PAC seeking the repeal of the law.
“We are going to lead a major campaign to end this law. It is completely obscene that we subsidize millionaires and billionaires with property tax breaks. There is a deluge of luxury apartments. “
The so-called 421-A tax break was renewed in 2015 and 2017 when Republicans controlled the state’s Senate. The Democrats now control both houses of the Legislature and may be less inclined to give more than $ 1 billion in tax breaks a year to developer housing complexes in exchange for affordable housing closures.
Forty real estate-related donors contributed to Cuomo’s re-election, totaling $ 465,000, campaign records show.
Donors include billionaire landowner Richard LeFrak, who deposited $ 33,000 in Cuomo’s coffers earlier this year.
Executives with affiliate connections gave $ 65,000 – including $ 25,000 from billionaire developer and chairman Stephen Ross. The company developed the Hudson Yards in Manhattan, which includes residential buildings that are exempt from property tax.
Gary Barnett, CEO of Extell Company, also contributed $ 19,700.
Extell’s One57 skyscraper on 57th Street in Midtown qualified for the 421-A tax exemption program before the program was overhauled. Other Extell properties that received tax breaks include One Manhattan Square on the Lower East Side and One Riverside Park on the Upper West Side.
RXR Realty executives donated $ 50,000 and those who work for Two Trees Management donated $ 25,000.
RXR Realty-Honcho Scott Rechler donated space in his Rockefeller Plaza building for Cuomo’s June 30 fundraiser, which had a minimum price of $ 10,000 per head and $ 15,000 per pair.
Two Trees develops, owns, and manages homes in downtown and brownstone Brooklyn, including the DUMBO and Williamsburg neighborhoods, with tax breaks in some locations. The company is converting the location of the Domino Sugar factory on the waterfront.
Kylie Cappelli, the actress and wife of developer Louis Cappelli, has thrown in $ 50,000.
Adam and Ivan Kaufman of Arbor Realty donated $ 25,000 to Cuomo’s campaign fund.
Susanne Durst, the wife of the head of the Durst organization, Douglas Durst, donated US $ 10,000.
The Durst Organization qualified for tax breaks for the Hallet’s Point waterfront residential complex in Astoria, Queens.
Republican billionaire mogul John Catsimatidis, whose real estate portfolio has received $ 2 billion in tax breaks and includes new waterfront homes on Coney Island, Brooklyn, gave Cuomo $ 25,000 and $ 10,000 to Republican governor’s hope Lee Zeldin.
Catsimatidis said he was loyal to Cuomo, whom he has known for decades along with his late father, former Governor Mario Cuomo.
“The Andrew Cuomo family and the Catsimatidis family have long been friends,” he said. “The Cuomo family has long had common sense.”
Catsimatidis, who holds a senior leadership position in the Greek Orthodox Church of North America, said Cuomo helped rebuild the Greek Orthodox Church of St. Nicholas in Lower Manhattan last year. The structure was devastated during the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Meanwhile, Catsimtatidis said what is happening to the 421-A tax cut program is a litmus test that could determine whether he is continuing to invest in New York or elsewhere. He said New York couldn’t afford to be anti-development.
“If you don’t have common sense Democrats, the billions of dollars will go elsewhere and the jobs will go with it,” he said.
The head of New York’s Real Estate Board continues to give Cuomo’s leadership a thumbs up – despite the governor’s opposition to investigations into his dealings with nursing homes in the state during the pandemic, as well as allegations of sexual harassment by current and former employees. Cuomo denies wrongdoing on both fronts.
“As New York continues on its economic recovery path, competent and experienced governance will play a critical role in moving the state forward at this critical time,” REBNY President James Whelan said in a statement.
Last week, The Post reported that employees at a company that received $ 62 million in government emergency COVID-19 contracts – the Somos Health Care Providers – transferred $ 230,000 in donations to Cuomo’s re-elected kittens.
Team Cuomo dismissed criticism that the governor was influenced by real estate donations and defended its record for affordable housing.
“Give me a break – I would put this governor’s record of protecting tenants’ rights and promoting and building affordable housing against anyone anytime, any day,” said Cuomo spokesman Richard Azzopardi.
“The weirdos in the advocacy industrial complex can say what they want, but they can’t change the facts.”
Cuomo aims to take up and win a fourth term in 2022. His father Mario Cuomo lost to Republican George Pataki in 1994 when he ran for a fourth term.