\u201cThe president was interested in the idea and I look forward to the ensuing conversations about how to build more housing in a city that doesn\u2019t have enough of it,\u201d Mamdani said at an unrelated event in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, on Friday.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/c63590d1e8d9651766b58fef25bd142b643b_sunnyside_yards.w700.a700x467.2x.jpg\")
An artist\u2019s rendering of the projected Sunnyside Yard. Credit: NYC Economic Development Corporation<\/p>\n
After the meeting with the president, the mayor posted<\/a> to social media a photo of himself with the president, who held up two front pages of the Daily News. One was real \u2014 a copy of the infamous cover \u201cFORD TO CITY: DROP DEAD\u201d \u2014 and the other City Hall had mocked up with a headline that read, \u201cTRUMP TO CITY: LET\u2019S BUILD.\u201d<\/p>\n Mamdani framed the housing development project as part of the solution to meeting the city\u2019s affordability challenge. He touted the proposed project as the \u201csingle largest housing development New York City has seen since 1973.\u201d<\/p>\n The Sunnyside Yard project<\/a> first came about under Mayor Bill de Blasio. Building the project \u2014 which at the time included the platform over the rails, new housing, offices and public open space \u2014 would cost about $14 billion, according to a 2020 estimate from the city Economic Development Corporation.<\/p>\n Though there was an extensive community engagement process to come up with the plan, then-Councilmember Jimmy van Bramer and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez criticized<\/a> the process for not reflecting community wants. (Since redistricting, Rep. Nydia Velazquez now represents the area.)<\/p>\n