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\n Welcome, billionaires.
\n Photo: Michael Nagle\/Bloomberg\/Getty Images\n <\/p>\n
For a socialist who once opined that New York would be better off without billionaires<\/a>, Zohran Mamdani \u2014 the mayor of a city with more billionaires than any<\/a> other city on the globe \u2014 sure doesn\u2019t mind basking in the investment boom that is currently sweeping through Gotham.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m just coming from the beginning of the construction process for the new American Express headquarters<\/a> in lower Manhattan,\u201d Mamdani told me<\/a> during a sit-down at Gracie Mansion.\u00a0 \u201cWhat we\u2019re seeing is multi-billion dollar investments in our city and a recommitment to the very neighborhoods that not that long ago we were told would never rise again. It is truly an incredible day for our city and all the announcements we\u2019ve heard about companies committed to the city\u2019s future.\u201d<\/p>\n In a speech<\/a> at the groundbreaking, Mamdani estimated the $6 billion Amex project will ultimately support 21,250 jobs and contribute more than $11 billion to the local economy, including $250 million in tax revenue. A few days earlier, Anthropic, a San Francisco-based tech behemoth, announced plans to double its New York work force<\/a> to 1,000 employees and lease a 16-story building.<\/p>\n Those investments come on top of JP Morgan Chase cutting the ribbon on a $4 billion headquarters last year; Bank of America signing a 20-year lease in midtown; and Google building a $2 billion headquarters in Hudson Square.\u00a0 Even Citadel, whose CEO Ken Griffin was specifically targeted by Mamdani<\/a> as the kind of rich New Yorker who should be taxed more heavily, is likely to be the anchor tenant of a $6 billion supertall office tower at 350 Park Avenue, where demolition recently began<\/a>.<\/p>\n The trend is clear. \u201cNew York City may be led by a democratic socialist who spends a lot of time castigating big business and landlords and leading a progressive coalition determined to raise taxes on the wealthy and corporations,\u201d writes business journalist Greg David in The City Reporter<\/a>, \u201cbut leaders at some of the largest companies and professional service firms remain firmly committed to New York.\u201d<\/p>\n Less than a year ago, prominent New Yorkers were fearfully predicting that Mamdani and his fellow socialists would chase billionaires, commerce and jobs out of New York. \u201cWe don\u2019t want more people to leave New York. We don\u2019t want businesses to leave New York,\u201d billionaire investor John Catsimatidis<\/a> told me last November. \u201cOne percent of New Yorkers pay 48 percent of the taxes. If there\u2019s an exodus, machine kaput.\u201d<\/p>\n Wall Street ratings agencies changed their outlook on the city\u2019s finances from stable to negative after Mamdani was sworn in, and Steve Fulop, President of the Partnership for New York City business organization, warned of bad times ahead.\u00a0 \u201cThe reality is that JP Morgan has more employees in Texas than they do here. Goldman Sachs hasn\u2019t added a net job in like a decade,\u201d he told me in May<\/a>. \u201cPeople want to be in New York City. There are unique assets here, so they\u2019re always going to be here. But they\u2019re gonna scale up and invest elsewhere if they\u2019re pushed. Nobody\u2019s bluffing.\u201d<\/p>\n For those who like to bet, here\u2019s a sure thing: as long as young people keep flocking to New York in search of fame, fortune and excitement, the giant corporations whose fortunes are built on their creativity and intellect will remain here. Just since Mamdani took office, a lot has happened that will keep them coming, including the Knicks world championship, World Cup watch parties<\/a>, the over-the-top celebrity wedding of you-know-who<\/a>, and the spending spree from the record $49 billion in bonuses<\/a> paid out on Wall Street, which last year employed a record high 209,000 people.<\/p>\n \u201cNew York City is back. The people who work here, live here, they feel the energy, they have the conviction, and they have every right,\u201d an exuberant Scott Rechler, CEO of the RXR real estate firm, said at a business conference<\/a> last fall. \u201cIn our business right now, we are seeing CEO after CEO committing to the city. We\u2019re seeing a record level of leasing in office buildings. And it\u2019s not just for next year, it\u2019s for 2028, 2030, 2032.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo one has put their pencils down. No one is calling the moving trucks,\u201d agreed\u00a0 Bill Rudin of Rudin Management, another big real estate firm. \u201cCompanies are expanding and taking space.\u201d<\/p>\n Mamdani, like any good politician, is riding the wave and playing the very lucky hand he\u2019s been dealt, seeking to squeeze whatever jobs and tax revenue he can get from New York\u2019s megabusinesses. \u201cWe appreciate any investment in our city and we want our city to continue to have a strong economy,\u201d he told me. \u201cWe also want the strength of the economy to be measured by the way that it meets the needs of working people,\u201d he said \u2014 a pivot back to the tax-the-rich philosophy that helped him win City Hall last year.<\/p>\n The mayor\u2019s approach has been successful enough to scare off any credible local political opponents. Three critics who have announced they are considering a run against Mamdani in 2029 are John Chell<\/a>, a retired NYPD Chief of Department; comedian Michael Rappaport<\/a>; and WABC radio host Sid Rosenberg<\/a>, a bigot who recently had to apologize for calling the mayor an \u201cAmerica-hating, Jew hating, Radical Islam cockroach\u201d during one of his on-air rants.<\/p>\n None of these men have run for office before or developed any kind of political presence or base. None are remotely serious enough to change the minds, or win the support, of the hard-headed business titans who have sized up the situation and decided to continue investing billions of dollars in New York despite the election of a socialist mayor.<\/p>\n