![\"Co-ops](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/coops-condos.webp\")
A Co-ops and Condos rally at Bell Park Manor Terrace in July 2026. (Photo Courtesy of Co-ops and Condos United)<\/p>\nA \u201cgrassroots\u201d homeowners group leading the charge against Local Law 97 has deep ties to a powerful real estate industry association, New York Focus reports.<\/p>\n
A Co-ops and Condos rally at Bell Park Manor Terrace in July 2026. (Photo Courtesy of Co-ops and Condos United)<\/p>\n
This story originally appeared in New York Focus, a nonprofit news publication investigating power in New York.\u00a0Sign up for their newsletter here<\/a>.<\/p>\n In March,\u00a0the New York Real Estate Journal\u00a0announced<\/a>\u00a0the formation of a new \u201cgrassroots advocacy group\u201d representing the more than one million New York City residents who live in co-ops and condos. The group,\u00a0Co-ops and Condos United<\/a>, has focused much of its lobbying efforts on opposing Local Law 97, the 2019 city law requiring large buildings to limit greenhouse gas emissions. Within just a few months, the fledgling group\u2019s rallies have\u00a0attracted<\/a>\u00a0high-profile politicians, including Congressmember Tom Suozzi and a host of city and state lawmakers, and sympathetic media coverage in half a dozen publications.<\/p>\n But Co-ops and Condos United has deeper ties to the real estate industry than its grassroots branding suggests. The group is a\u00a0rebranding<\/a>\u00a0of Homeowners for a Stronger New York, a prominent critic of Local Law 97. Until its renaming last fall, Homeowners for a Stronger New York\u00a0received all its funding<\/a> (over\u00a0$750,000) from a lobbying group run by the Real Estate Board of New York, or REBNY, which represents some of the city\u2019s largest developers.<\/p>\n The group changed its name last November. Its former president, Geoffrey Mazel, remains a leader in the rebranded organization, telling New York Focus he serves as CCU\u2019s co-founder, executive member, and legal advisor.<\/p>\n In a phone interview, Mazel said that CCU receives funding from REBNY but also has \u201ca lot of support in the co-op community.\u201d He said he\u2019s not at liberty to share the amount of funding REBNY provides, but that he has been organizing middle- and working-class co-op owners since long before he\u2019d heard of the real estate board.<\/p>\n \u201cNobody tells me what to do,\u201d Mazel said. \u201cI\u2019ve been an independent advocate for co-op boards in the city for 42 years. REBNY, I don\u2019t give a shit what REBNY says about anything.\u201d<\/p>\n Mazel and another CCU executive, real estate consultant Michael Wolfe, serve on REBNY\u2019s residential management council as\u00a0legal advisor<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0chair<\/a>, respectively.<\/p>\n CCU\u2019s website does not mention either REBNY or Homeowners for a Stronger New York, and its connection to those groups has not been previously reported.<\/p>\n REBNY President James Whelan said his organization is proud of its work with CCU. \u201cThe premise of this story is that REBNY supports an organization that shares many of the same goals we do,\u201d Whelan said. \u201cThat\u2019s not a scandal; it\u2019s advocacy. We\u2019re proud to support efforts that give co-op and condo owners a voice in public policy debates, and we do so transparently, in full compliance with all legal disclosure requirements.\u201d<\/p>\n REBNY has\u00a0advocated<\/a>\u00a0for\u00a0amending<\/a>\u00a0Local Law 97 since the City Council began debating its first draft proposal in late 2017, and it continues to press for more leeway for building owners. In 2022, the group successfully lobbied former Mayor Eric Adams\u2019 administration against stricter caps on building owners\u2019 ability to purchase renewable energy credits to offset their emissions from electricity use<\/a>\u2014a policy that Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s administration\u00a0has kept in place.<\/p>\n Pete Sikora, the director of climate advocacy at New York Communities for Change, said he believes REBNY is using CCU as political cover in its campaign against Local Law 97.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone hates billionaire landlords,\u201d said Sikora, \u201cso the landlord lobby pays for front groups to try and shift the focus from them to more sympathetic homeowners.\u201d<\/p>\n This spring, CCU\u00a0lobbied<\/a>\u00a0in support of Gov. Kathy Hochul\u2019s push to delay New York\u2019s decarbonization timeline through\u00a0amendments to the state\u2019s climate law<\/a>. The group is now\u00a0leading the charge<\/a>\u00a0for a similar rollback of environmental protections in New York City, supporting a City Council\u00a0bill<\/a>\u00a0that would weaken Local Law 97.<\/p>\n Introduced by Councilmember Linda Lee, a Democrat from eastern Queens, the bill would increase buildings\u2019 allowed emissions by including outdoor space as part of their footprint, among other measures. That would significantly increase the carbon budget of garden-style co-ops, where low-rise apartments are accompanied by lawns. The nearly 3,000-apartment Glen Oaks Village complex in northeastern Queens, for example, would be allowed to more than double its emissions, according to a New York Focus analysis of the property\u2019s building and lot data.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a lot of support from elected officials with the idea that Local Law 97 needs to be reformed, especially in light of the amendments this past June,\u201d Mazel told New York Focus, referring to Hochul\u2019s successful effort to\u00a0scrap the state\u2019s 2030 emissions goal<\/a>.<\/p>\n Lee\u2019s bill would increase the typical co-op or condo\u2019s annual emissions allowance by 11 percent, according to a report from the Urban Green Council. The bill currently has 22 co-sponsors\u2014just shy of a Council majority. CCU argues it would save co-op shareholders and condo owners from financial ruin. The group also supports a bill sponsored by Councilmember Vickie Paladino that would simply delay the implementation of Local Law 97 by seven years.<\/p>\n In its campaign to defang Local Law 97, CCU works closely with the\u00a0Presidents Co-op and Condo Council<\/a>\u00a0(PCCC), a group of co-op and condo board leaders. That group\u2019s co-founders filed a\u00a0lawsuit<\/a>\u00a0in 2022 seeking to invalidate Local Law 97. The lawsuit, which PCCC co-founder Warren Schreiber told New York Focus was bankrolled by an anonymous \u201clarge corporation,\u201d was\u00a0rejected<\/a>\u00a0in 2025 by the state\u2019s top court.<\/p>\n \u201cREBNY, as far as the laws are concerned, has been a tremendous help to us,\u201d Schreiber told New York Focus. He noted that REBNY has helped \u201cput together the wording for some legislation that we\u2019ve presented to City Council members.\u201d<\/p>\n PCCC\u2019s other co-founder, Bob Friedrich, emerged as the co-op world\u2019s\u00a0loudest<\/a>\u00a0and<\/a>\u00a0most<\/a>\u00a0prolific<\/a>\u00a0critic<\/a>\u00a0of Local Law 97\u00a0long<\/a>\u00a0before<\/a>\u00a0CCU was founded. Friedrich runs Glen Oaks Village, the largest garden-style co-op in New York City. He says it would have to spend tens of millions of dollars on heat pumps and rewiring to fully electrify in compliance with Local Law 97.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re talking about something that would cost our co-op about $100 million, which would require a special assessment of around $35,000 per shareholder,\u201d said Friedrich. \u201cAnd we can\u2019t take out loans because we\u2019re already overextended.\u201d (Friedrich has given\u00a0different projections<\/a>\u00a0for the cost in the past. He declined to share detailed estimates he received for the renovations, saying he needed board approval to release \u201cproprietary\u201d information.)<\/p>\n Glen Oaks Village\u2019s\u00a02025 financial statement<\/a>\u00a0shows the co-op paid off its mortgage in 2024 and holds over $16 million in investments.<\/p>\n State and city governments have created programs and incentives to help co-ops and condos cover the significant costs of electrification. Most important among these is the state legislature\u2019s recent renewal and\u00a0expansion<\/a>\u00a0of the J-51 program, a\u00a0tax reduction framework<\/a>\u00a0that has allowed many condo owners, co-op shareholders, and owners of affordable apartment buildings to defray much of the cost of major repairs. Both CCU and REBNY advocated for reupping the tax write-off.<\/p>\n The revamped program<\/a> significantly raises the eligibility threshold and allows buildings to recover 100 percent of \u201creasonable costs\u201d for the upgrades\u2014up from 70 percent\u2014by abating up to half of their annual property tax bill over several years. \u201cReasonable costs\u201d would be determined by the Department of Housing Preservation and Development. The City Council is expected to\u00a0authorize the J-51 expansion<\/a>\u00a0soon.<\/p>\n Joe Chavez, the director of sustainable buildings at the Mayor\u2019s Office of Climate & Environmental Justice, said the revamped J-51 program could be an enormous boon for eligible properties.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve estimated there are anywhere from 1,300 to 1,400 [co-op and condo developments] that are projected to be over their emissions limits in 2030,\u201d he said. \u201cIf they could utilize J-51, they can bring their emissions down, avoid penalties, and come into compliance.\u201d<\/p>\n While the renewed program will benefit co-ops and condos pursuing renovations, it doesn\u2019t provide the initial funding, CCU Legislative Director Jane Menton noted.<\/p>\n \u201cBuildings still have to raise the capital for these projects upfront, either through loans and assessments, and without certainty as to what the certified reasonable cost will be as a percentage of the total cost of the project,\u201d Menton told New York Focus.<\/p>\n \u201cThe problem is coming up with the money first,\u201d Friedrich concurred.<\/p>\n Locally, the mayor\u2019s climate office offers a free program called\u00a0NYC Accelerator<\/a>\u00a0to help connect building owners and administrators\u2014including co-op and condo boards\u2014with resources for complying with Local Law 97.<\/p>\n NYC Accelerator will also launch a hub specifically for co-ops sometime next year, staffed with experts on co-op governance and finances, Chavez said.<\/p>\n CCU has continued to\u00a0hold rallies<\/a>\u00a0in support of Lee\u2019s bill to relax Local Law 97 for co-ops. Despite the renewed subsidies, Mazel said, the law is \u201cstill an economic poison pill for the building.\u201d<\/p>\n \t