Hotel Trades Council, 32BJ throw support behind Marjorie Velazquez

City Council elections are coming up, and powerful real estate labor unions are ready to support one incumbent — and reject two — who played key roles in major development projects.

The Hotel Trades Council and 32BJ SEIU are part of the Labor Strong Coalition, which plans to spend more than $1 million to support Democratic City Council members this year, the New York Daily News reported. The other members of the coalition are DC37, the New York State Nurses Association and the Communications Workers of America.

The coalition has already decided to use its war chest to support several candidates — which the five must support unanimously — with primary election voting to begin June 17.

One of those set to garner support is Marjorie Velazquez. In the fall, the Bronx Council member announced a deal with Throggs Neck Associates, a group of developers, that allowed an upzoning of Bruckner Boulevard. 

The mayor backed the project before Velazquez did and it’s unclear what would have happened without pressure from him and Council Speaker Adrianne Adams. But the developers have said they have an agreement to use 32BJ SEIU building service workers at the four-building project, which will have 348 apartments, up to 166 of them permanently affordable, and will replace an closed batting-cage business and 12 vacant parcels.

The labor coalition, which is functioning as an independent expenditure PAC required to disclose spending and revenue, appears poised to withhold support from two other candidates with checkered records on real estate issues.

One is Julie Won of Queens, who spent months battling Silverstein Properties over its $2 billion Innovation QNS project in Astoria. Negotiations often spilled out in the public, and both the mayor and Borough President Donovan Richards took issue with Won’s demands.

Won ultimately agreed to a deal that will deliver roughly 2,800 apartments to the Queens neighborhood, 51 percent of them affordable.

Another expected to be denied the labor group’s support is Harlem’s Kristin Richardson Jordan. The Council member’s low-income housing demand for Bruce Teitelbaum’s One45 project led to its demise, prompting Teitelbaum to put a truck depot at the proposed site instead. Teitelbaum recently revived the proposal, however, and Jordan met with him after a lengthy standoff.

The coalition will also back Speaker Adams to retain both her seat and her leadership post, although neither are likely to be threatened. Adams has been a vocal supporter of building housing and pushed the Bruckner Boulevard and Innovation QNS rezonings over the finish line.

— Holden Walter-Warner