After being mysteriously absent throughout last week, today Eric Adams announced a set of new initiatives as part of the city’s “Jobs Week”, showcasing policies and programs throughout the coming days, meant to boost employment and economic activity in the five boroughs. The latter consideration appeared to take center stage in today’s address, as Mayor Adams expressed concern over “vacant spaces in our city,” particularly in business districts, where 15% of office space still goes unused four years after the COVID crisis. For Adams, the trend has had far-reaching consequences. “It was hurting the local bodegas, the local stores, the restaurants, those who sold flowers,” he told reporters today under the City Hall Cupola. “The trickle-down effect was real.”
One of the major projects revealed today was a program meant to address this issue in particular, called the Relocation Assistance Credit for Employees. RACE is a program meant to attract out-of-state companies to New York City, providing economic incentives for companies that sign for at least 20,000 square feet of space in qualifying office buildings. Melissa Roman Birch of the New York City Economic Development Corporation also announced the International Landing Pad Network, an effort to assist international firms “that are ready to tap U.S. markets and establish a physical presence with a New York base of operations.”
The RACE program is based on projections from the city that it will generate enough economic activity to offset the upfront cost. “It is a tax credit, and so the estimates are that it will be over the course of ten years $150 million in foregone tax revenue,” said Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer. “But because of increased activity, what that means is that you have an increase really of about $400 million in tax revenue, so it’s good leverage.”
Another project revealed today is the $500 million development plan for the UN Plaza, which the Adams’ administration and Governor Kathy Hochul say will create 1,800 jobs. The project is expected to involve renovations of over 900,000 square feet of space, including the implementation of modern energy efficiencies at the United Nations complex, where Midtown meets the East River. “These opportunities will not only lift up the city of New York and bring more business and economic opportunity, but will literally transform people’s lives,” said Gary LaBarbera, president of the Building and Construction Trade Council.
LaBarbera appeared unfazed by the federal government’s recent kneecapping of the National Labor Relations Board, after the Trump administration fired one of its board members and leaving the agency with no quorum– and therefore no ability to rule on labor matters. “This is a situation where we have to see how things evolve,” LaBarbera said. “If laws are weakened, I believe the outcome will be the greater ability for organized labor to organize the unorganized, because that’s the only place that they’ll be able to find worker protections.” Mayor Adams was more laconic when asked whether he thought the NLRB’s diminished status could be detrimental: “no” was his short reply.
