NYC Economic Development Corp. Faces Red Ink as Big Bets Stall

What happened

Bisnow New York reported on 10/15/2026 that the NYC Economic Development Corp. (EDC) faces shrinking finances just as Mayor Zohran Mamdani's administration is asking it to do more. That list includes growing the workforce, setting up city-run grocery stores, strengthening infrastructure and helping with the housing crisis. EDC is a public benefit corporation that manages city-owned real estate. Bisnow said EDC did not answer its questions, and a spokesperson stopped responding to requests for comment.

According to the report, EDC had an operating loss of $73.4M in fiscal year 2025. Property rental, lease and interest revenue fell by $29.3M, or 10%, while property operating expenses rose by $22.3M, or 22%. Budget projections shared with the EDC board in June show deficits every year for the next four years. EDC's net position (assets minus liabilities) is expected to fall from about $715M at the end of FY 2025 to $587M by the end of FY 2030.

Bisnow pointed to projects from past administrations that fell short. A 486K SF bioscience center planned under Mayor Michael Bloomberg at a decommissioned Army base has delivered only 44K SF of lab space. On the Upper East Side, EDC had to buy back a lot it sold for a Hunter College nursing school that was never built. The purchase happened in December, but the deed was not filed publicly until Oct. 7. The site's value fell from $253M in 2011 to $149M in 2024. Hunter's nursing school is now planned for the Science Park and Research Campus at Kips Bay with $474M in EDC funds.

EDC's income also depends heavily on Times Square ground leases. Twelve of them brought in more than $83M of EDC's $186M in FY 2025 lease revenue. Some leases let developers buy the land once their tax agreements expire. At 5 Times Square, RXR, Apollo Global Management and SL Green paid $8M for the land, which cut EDC's future collections by $238M. At the same time, the city is offering more of its land as a subsidy for affordable housing instead of collecting ground rent. Mamdani aims to build more than 50,000 units on more than 100 city-owned sites. NYU's Marc Norman said that if strategy shifts that way, the way EDC is funded may have to change too.