Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani is New York City\u2019s mayor-elect, set to assume office on Jan. 1, and some billionaires have floated relocating their businesses out of the largest U.S. city.<\/p>\n
Real estate investor and Starwood Property Trust CEO Barry Sternlicht told<\/a> Daily Mail on Sunday that his firm is considering relocating now that Mamdani will be the city\u2019s next mayor, and that he expects other businesses to do so as well.<\/p>\n The commercial real estate tycoon and founder of Starwood\u2014which reported<\/a> Monday having $29.9 billion in total assets at the end of the third quarter\u2014suggested that tenants will be emboldened not to pay their rent with Mamdani in charge.<\/p>\n \u201cThe far-left gets really nuts and says the tenants don\u2019t have to pay. Well, you can\u2019t kick them out if they don\u2019t pay,\u201d Sternlicht said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cSo, the neighbor finds out the neighbor isn\u2019t paying, and they don\u2019t pay, and the next guy doesn\u2019t pay, and then you\u2019re basically going to turn New York City into Mumbai,\u201d he added, alluding<\/a> to the city in India dealing with overcrowding, a housing shortage, and poor housing conditions.<\/p>\n Mamdani\u2019s camp didn\u2019t immediately respond to a request for comment. <\/p>\n During his mayoral campaign, Mamdani said he wants to increase eviction protections<\/a> for tenants in the city, though he hasn\u2019t publicly advocated for housing policies that would allow nonpayment of rent.<\/p>\n Starwood Capital Group, a private investment firm that owns controlling a interest of Starwood Property Trust, is also headed by Sternlicht. It has helped finance large-scale luxury residential developments, such as The Greenwich<\/a> by Rafael Vi\u00f1oly and a new 46-story residential tower<\/a> in Long Island City.\u00a0<\/p>\n In November, Starwood Property Trust gave<\/a> a $161 million loan to refinance the \u201cForty Six Fifty\u201d apartment building, a 22-story residential building with 222 apartments, in Manhattan.<\/p>\n Last week, Sternlicht told CNBC that<\/a> \u201csocialism has never worked anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a big office here ourselves and, I mean, we\u2019ll see how this works, but the team in New York is saying for the first time, \u2018maybe we should leave,\u2019\u201d he added.<\/p>\n By contrast, billionaire businessmen like Jamie Dimon and Bill Ackman are offering to help<\/a> Mamdani despite previously criticizing his policies and bankrolling his main competitor, Andrew Cuomo.\u00a0<\/p>\n And some business leaders who previously threatened<\/a> to leave the city under a Mamdani administration are backtracking.<\/p>\n Hedge fund manager Ricky Sandler threatened to move his firm, which manages about $7.8 billion, out of the city after Mamdani won the Democratic primary in June and became a very likely candidate to win the entire race.<\/p>\n But on Thursday, Sandler, who contributed $500,000 to a group backing Cuomo, said in a post<\/a> on X<\/a> he wasn\u2019t planning on moving yet, even though he wrote that the city will be \u201cpotentially a lot worse\u201d with Mamdani in office.<\/p>\n \u201cPersonally, I am most concerned about safety and livability,\u201d he added. \u201cSecondarily, I worry that Mamdani\u2019s policies and inexperience could create a fiscal crisis which could further impair safety and livability.\u201d<\/p>\n Grocery store chain owner John Catsimatidis, who threatened to move his business if Mamdani won the mayoral election, told<\/a> Forbes on Friday that he may look to move the headquarters of Red Apple<\/a> Group\u2014which operates Gristedes and D\u2019Agostino supermarkets in New York\u2014to \u201cfriendly\u201d states like Florida.<\/p>\n