CRAINSNEWYORK.COM I MARCH 18, 2024
TECH MAYOR?! Eric Adams set out to be the industry’s ally, but regulations and a lawsuit leave some skeptical By Amanda Glodowski Mayor Eric Adams isn’t known as one to skip a party. But he was conspicuously absent last month from Google’s ribbon-cutting for its new Hudson Square location. The tech giant’s $2.1 billion office, known as St. John’s Terminal, is the most recent example of the sector’s investment in New York. The company in 2018 pledged to double the number of “Googlers” in New York in 10 years, and it met the goal in half the time. The firm’s local staff now numbers 14,000. BY THE Adams instead spent the day, Feb. 21, in St. Louis, NUMBERS touring a technology services company called WWT that holds the city’s largest minority- and womenowned business enterprise contract. Later in the The cost of day he accepted an award at a gala in support of jazz Google’s new music, according to his public schedule. He didn’t office at St. send anyone else from City Hall to the Google event, John’s either. Terminal The choice struck some in the industry as questionable, especially for a mayor who has branded himself as a technophile and cheerleader for the industry. During his mayoral campaign, Adams promised to strive not just to modernize government by boldly experimenting with new technology, but to turbo-charge the industry itself by working closely with the largely West Coast-based giants who had set up shop in New York, assuring executives they would soon have an ally in City Hall. At the start of his mayoralty, Adams took his paychecks in crypto and vied with Miami Mayor Francis Suarez over who could be more welcoming to the tech industry. But two years into his term, Adams’ relationship with the local industry has grown tenuous. A spate of regulations threatens the sector’s growth, the city all but shut down Airbnb, and Adams in recent weeks has taken aim at social media, comparing the platforms to cigarette companies. Leaders of some of the city’s biggest tech employers feel they have been misled by Adams about how open the city is to their input on rulemaking, according to See TECH on Page 24
CRAIN’S ILLUSTRAION, GETTY IMAGES AND BLOOMBERG PHOTOS
$2.1B
Legislature’s housing and tax-hike plans will set up a budget battle with Hochul By Nick Garber
State lawmakers proposed raising taxes on high earners and enacting a version of the controversial tenant protection known as “good cause” eviction in their budget proposals released last week, staking out positions to the left of Gov. Kathy Hochul as the two sides begin negotiations on the
coming year’s state budget. The so-called one-house budget plans, released March 11 by the state Senate and March 12 by the state Assembly, include some overlaps with Hochul’s own $233 billion budget proposal for the 2025 fiscal year. The Senate’s proposal backs up Hochul’s calls to create a tax incentive for office-to-housing conversions in New York
City and lift a density cap on housing. It also expresses openness to a new tax incentive for affordable housing construction akin to the lapsed 421-a program, whose replacement is a key priority for the real estate industry, as well as extending the old program’s deadline to cover projects already See BUDGET on Page 26
VOL. 40, NO. 11 l COPYRIGHT 2024 CRAIN COMMUNICATIONS INC. l ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
GOTHAM GIGS Veteran reporter’s new book focuses on female execs who ran the city’s department stores. See this year’s honorees on PAGE 13
P001_CN_20240318.indd 1
State Senate Majority Leader Andrea StewartCousins released a one-house budget proposal that calls for a housing deal that would trade a new 421-a tax break for tenant protections such as “good cause” eviction. | NYS SENATE MEDIA SERVICES
PAGE 23
3/15/24 6:02 PM