Politics

/

ArcaMax

Adams' new campaign HQ opens in SL Green building amid key support from real estate giant

Chris Sommerfeldt, New York Daily News on

Published in Political News

NEW YORK — Mayor Eric Adams recently opened his new campaign headquarters in a building owned by SL Green, the city’s largest commercial landlord and one of his biggest political backers — the latest example of Adams shoring up his ties with the powerful firm as he kicks off a difficult bid for reelection.

Marc Holliday, SL Green’s CEO, is a longtime supporter of Adams and offers him a crucial toehold into New York’s influential — and wealthy — real estate sector. During the Democratic mayoral primary campaign, Adams’ rival Andrew Cuomo courted most sections of the real estate world for financial support, including Holliday.

But with Cuomo’s Democratic mayoral primary loss in the rearview, Holliday appears to be lining up squarely behind Adams, who’s running on an independent line in November’s general election.

Last week, Holliday hosted a fundraiser for Adams at One Madison, SL Green’s flagship Flatiron District skyscraper, where hundreds of supporters donated nearly $1 million to the mayor. The massive haul comes as Adams is scrambling to mount an independent run against socialist Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic mayoral nominee who’s the favorite to win in November, and Cuomo, who said Monday he is also staying in the race on an independent line.

Eighteen blocks north from One Madison, Adams has struck up another connection to SL Green, opening his campaign’s new headquarters last week at the Graybar Building on Lexington Ave., one of a number of commercial properties the company owns in New York.

A source familiar with the matter told the Daily News that Adams’ campaign is paying SL Green $55 per square foot in monthly rent for the space at Graybar. SL Green typically markets space in the building between $58 and $72 a square foot, according to real estate listings.

It wasn’t immediately clear how much space the campaign is renting. Frank Carone, Adams’ campaign chairman who’s also a consultant working on SL Green’s bid to build a casino in Manhattan, would only say the mayor’s team is paying “market rate” for the space.

SL Green, which holds extensive business interests before Adams’ administration, didn’t comment.

After Adams’ September 2024 indictment on corruption charges, Holliday turned to Cuomo, pumping $100,000 into a super PAC that boosted the ex-governor’s primary run. Cuomo is planning to run in the November election on an independent ballot line and is likely to try to seek support from the real estate and finance sectors that supported him during the primary.

But the new campaign headquarters and last week’s large fundraiser indicate Adams has been able to tap at least portions of the deep-pocketed real estate industry for support, even as polling shows the mayor is facing an uphill climb amid continued fallout from his corruption indictment.

In turning to Holliday and SL Green for support, Adams is treading familiar ground.

Holliday is a longtime donor to Adams going back to the mayor’s days as Brooklyn borough president. He and other SL Green executives have given nearly $30,000 to Adams’ 2025 campaign, records show.

 

In addition to Wednesday’s confab, Holliday hosted a fundraiser for Adams’ reelection campaign at One Madison in July 2024 — two months before the mayor was indicted on bribery and campaign finance fraud charges — that raked in more than $100,000, per records obtained by The News via a Freedom of Information Law request.

Holliday and other SL Green execs are in the city’s Doing Business database because of the various financial interests they have before city government.

One of SL Green’s biggest current projects is its proposal to build a casino in Times Square. The state is expected later this year to select which developer will get to build a casino in the city, a highly coveted, lucrative business venture that the mayor is expected to have some input in.

Carone, Adams’ ex-chief of staff and political confidant, has been helping SL Green with “community engagement” on the casino bid since leaving City Hall in late 2022.

Citing the various overlapping political and business interests between the two sides, John Kaehny, a veteran government watchdog who runs the Reinvent Albany organization, called the Adams campaign’s lease for its new headquarters “sleazy,” arguing it opens the door to potential ethics issues, given Adams’ campaign is effectively benefiting a big donor in renting the space.

Adams’ campaign first revealed it would be using space in the Graybar Building last week when it also announced the mayor’s new campaign team.

“We are ready to outorganize, outmessage, and outwork anyone standing in our way,” Carone said in a press release.

_____

New York Daily News reporter Josephine Stratman contributed to this story.)

_____


©2025 New York Daily News. Visit nydailynews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

 

Comments

blog comments powered by Disqus

 

Related Channels

The ACLU

ACLU

By The ACLU
Amy Goodman

Amy Goodman

By Amy Goodman
Armstrong Williams

Armstrong Williams

By Armstrong Williams
Austin Bay

Austin Bay

By Austin Bay
Ben Shapiro

Ben Shapiro

By Ben Shapiro
Betsy McCaughey

Betsy McCaughey

By Betsy McCaughey
Bill Press

Bill Press

By Bill Press
Bonnie Jean Feldkamp

Bonnie Jean Feldkamp

By Bonnie Jean Feldkamp
Cal Thomas

Cal Thomas

By Cal Thomas
Christine Flowers

Christine Flowers

By Christine Flowers
Clarence Page

Clarence Page

By Clarence Page
Danny Tyree

Danny Tyree

By Danny Tyree
David Harsanyi

David Harsanyi

By David Harsanyi
Debra Saunders

Debra Saunders

By Debra Saunders
Dennis Prager

Dennis Prager

By Dennis Prager
Dick Polman

Dick Polman

By Dick Polman
Erick Erickson

Erick Erickson

By Erick Erickson
Froma Harrop

Froma Harrop

By Froma Harrop
Jacob Sullum

Jacob Sullum

By Jacob Sullum
Jamie Stiehm

Jamie Stiehm

By Jamie Stiehm
Jeff Robbins

Jeff Robbins

By Jeff Robbins
Jessica Johnson

Jessica Johnson

By Jessica Johnson
Jim Hightower

Jim Hightower

By Jim Hightower
Joe Conason

Joe Conason

By Joe Conason
Joe Guzzardi

Joe Guzzardi

By Joe Guzzardi
John Micek

John Micek

By John Micek
John Stossel

John Stossel

By John Stossel
Josh Hammer

Josh Hammer

By Josh Hammer
Judge Andrew P. Napolitano

Judge Andrew Napolitano

By Judge Andrew P. Napolitano
Laura Hollis

Laura Hollis

By Laura Hollis
Marc Munroe Dion

Marc Munroe Dion

By Marc Munroe Dion
Michael Barone

Michael Barone

By Michael Barone
Mona Charen

Mona Charen

By Mona Charen
Rachel Marsden

Rachel Marsden

By Rachel Marsden
Rich Lowry

Rich Lowry

By Rich Lowry
Robert B. Reich

Robert B. Reich

By Robert B. Reich
Ruben Navarrett Jr.

Ruben Navarrett Jr

By Ruben Navarrett Jr.
Ruth Marcus

Ruth Marcus

By Ruth Marcus
S.E. Cupp

S.E. Cupp

By S.E. Cupp
Salena Zito

Salena Zito

By Salena Zito
Star Parker

Star Parker

By Star Parker
Stephen Moore

Stephen Moore

By Stephen Moore
Susan Estrich

Susan Estrich

By Susan Estrich
Ted Rall

Ted Rall

By Ted Rall
Terence P. Jeffrey

Terence P. Jeffrey

By Terence P. Jeffrey
Tim Graham

Tim Graham

By Tim Graham
Tom Purcell

Tom Purcell

By Tom Purcell
Veronique de Rugy

Veronique de Rugy

By Veronique de Rugy
Victor Joecks

Victor Joecks

By Victor Joecks
Wayne Allyn Root

Wayne Allyn Root

By Wayne Allyn Root

Comics

Joey Weatherford Margolis and Cox Mike Luckovich Marshall Ramsey RJ Matson Al Goodwyn