Commercial Real Estate Exec Seeks to Become NYC Mayor

In what might become a new political trend, another New York real estate executive is seeking elected office as a Republican candidate.

According to a New York Times report, Paul J. Massey Jr. has announced that he will seek the GOP nomination in next year’s election for mayor of New York City. Massey had previously run the commercial real estate firm Massey Knakal Realty Services, which focused on office and retail properties and apartment buildings within the city. The firm was sold last year to Cushman & Wakefield.

In announcing his run, Massey did not offer any specifics on his campaign’s vision, although he stated he would abstain from the city’s matching funds program. Massey also made no mention of that other New York real estate executive currently dominating the political landscape. Instead, he focused on the city’s Mayor Bill de Blasio, belittling his 2013 campaign slogan that depicted New York’s perceived inequities as a “tale of two cities.”

“This is not a tale of two cities,” said Massey’s campaign in a social media announcement of his candidacy. “This is the world’s greatest city and diversity is our strength.”

Dan Levitan, a spokesman for Mr. de Blasio’s re-election campaign, played up the mayor’s focus on housing issues while tartly noting that Massey only recently moved into a Manhattan apartment to establish his residency for the election, adding that the political challenge is a longtime resident of the suburban town of Larchmont, N.Y.

“Under Mayor de Blasio, crime just hit another all-time low, jobs are at record highs, the city is building and preserving affordable housing at a record pace, while graduation rates and test scores continue to improve,” Mr. Levitan said. “We are happy to match that record against any resident of New York City or Larchmont.”