City Pauses Lease At Office Tower Owned By Adams Donor

A New York City government agency might not move into its new home as expected after questions were raised about how its lease with the building's owner, a donor to Mayor Eric Adams, was handled.

The NYC Department for the Aging had agreed to move to 14 Wall St., a landmarked office tower in Manhattan’s Financial District, but that deal is now on pause as City Hall investigates the deal, Politico reports.

“Credit to First Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer for hearing our concerns and pausing DCAS’ fishy lease agreement at 14 Wall St.,” City Council Members Lincoln Restler, Keith Powers and Chris Marte said in a joint statement. “New Yorkers deserve to know that taxpayers are getting the best deal — not rewarding the Mayor’s donors with a multimillion lease.”

The NYC Department for the Aging agreed to relocate its office to 80K SF at 14 Wall St. in September. The 840K SF office tower is owned by a company linked to billionaire Alexander Rovt, who donated to Adams’ campaigns and a nonprofit he previously ran. 

Politico previously reported that Jesse Hamilton, deputy commissioner for real estate services at the Department of Citywide Administrative Services and a longtime Adams ally, had pushed the agency to a deal at 14 Wall after a different building won the initial bid for the contract. 

“As the mayor already indicated last month, a review is taking place on policies and procedures, including 14 Wall Street," a City Hall spokesperson told Bisnow in an email. "As this review takes place we are pausing the process of this lease.”

DCAS, Rovt and the CBRE brokers listed as the contacts for 14 Wall St. didn't immediately return Bisnow’s requests for comment.

Last month, a City Council committee spent two hours grilling personnel at the top of DCAS about how the decision to pivot away from AmTrust Re’s 250 Broadway, which initially won the contract, was made.

The hearing also revealed that the city was in talks to potentially lease or even acquire the Bronx Logistics Center, a 1.3M SF multistory industrial complex in Hunts Point that was developed by Turnbridge Equities and Dune Real Estate Partners and is currently empty. A day later, the city backtracked and announced that the deal was no longer going forward.

UPDATE, NOV. 14, 9:45 AM E.T.: This story has been updated to include comment from City Hall.