Top NYC real estate official faces new scrutiny over Bronx warehouse deal

A top city real estate official appeared in a promotional video for a warehouse in the Bronx his agency is actively trying to purchase — raising new questions over city contracts amid several ongoing investigations.

Jesse Hamilton, who is in charge of buying and leasing commercial space for the city, was already facing scrutiny over his dealings with political donors to Mayor Eric Adams before a video of him promoting the Bronx Logistics Center in Hunts Point emerged on Tuesday. Campaign finance records show employees from the real estate firm JLL, which secured financing for the construction and is now advertising the last-mile warehouse, have contributed at least $15,350 to Adams’ two mayoral campaigns.

The video aired during a City Council oversight hearing on Tuesday and shows Hamilton wearing a hard hat and hailing the new Bronx Logistics Center as a “phenomenal place, 1.3 million square feet, which can accommodate a lot of the city’s agencies.”

Councilmembers said Hamilton, who is deputy commissioner at the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, was undermining the city’s position in negotiations, and questioned whom the move was meant to benefit.

“In my years of government experience, I can never recall DCAS promoting a private site for utilization,” said Councilmember Lincoln Restler of Brooklyn, who chaired the hearing focused on the city's commercial deals. “It is not DCAS’s role to be promoting the best interests of private property owners, which is what I think we see here in this video.”

“I think it’s bizarre and, frankly, smells funny,” he added.

DCAS Commissioner Louis Molina acknowledged earlier in the hearing that the city is negotiating to buy the facility. He told councilmembers he was not aware of the video and would “look into it further.”

JLL spokespeople did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

The facility is owned by the firms Turnbridge Equities and Dune Real Estate Partners, which formed a limited liability company that lobbied Hamilton last year, records show. They did not respond to calls and emails.

The property is the latest to raise questions around Hamilton’s dealings in the weeks after investigators from the Manhattan district attorney’s office seized his phone following a trip to Japan with a commercial broker hired by the city to close lease and purchase agreements, like the Bronx warehouse. Earlier this year, Hamilton successfully intervened to scuttle an office deal for the city’s Department for the Aging after a competitive bidding process in order to rent space in a different building from a billionaire Adams donor, Politico reported.

After publication of this article, DCAS told Gothamist the agency no longer planned to lease or purchase the warehouse.

“Given what I have seen, I can say — with confidence — that this was an unauthorized video production that does not reflect the position of our agency,” Molina said in a statement

Hamilton did not respond to a phone call.

About an hour before the video aired in the Council chambers, Molina told members the city was considering the “possible acquisition” of the Bronx Logistics Center. He added that negotiations were only “in the early stages of consideration.”

But city officials who appeared in the video suggested negotiations may be further along. Hamilton was flanked by Erik Abad, an assistant director in the Office of Management and Budget, and George Donohue, the assistant director of leasing for DCAS.

“This is exactly the future of the city and where we need to be,” Abad said in the video.

“This is an excellent building for the city of New York,” Donohue added.

Hamilton acknowledged former DCAS Commissioner Dawn Pinnock in the video, suggesting it was filmed before Molina was appointed to the role in June.

Molina told councilmembers he had met with brokers from the firm Cushman and Wakefield to discuss a possible purchase on Oct. 8. The meeting, he said, included Diana Boutross, a broker hired by the city to find and close on commercial space for city agencies. Boutross accompanied Hamilton and top Adams adviser Ingrid Lewis-Martin on the trip to Japan that culminated in the confrontation with investigators at JFK Airport last month.

Restler noted that purchasing the Bronx Logistics Center could result in a $13.4 million commission to Boutross.

“We're talking about very large sums of money,” the councilmember said. “These are extremely lucrative contracts.”

Neither Boutross nor spokespeople for Cushman and Wakefield responded to requests for comment.

The DCAS contracts are now facing review by multiple entities, including First Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer.

Hamilton — a former state senator and close associate of the mayor — plays a key role in securing office space for city agencies from private landlords affected by the pandemic-related decline in commercial leasing, wielding power to enter agreements worth tens of millions of dollars.

Despite the investigation and ongoing reviews, Molina told councilmembers he has not restricted Hamilton’s power to steer lease or purchase agreements.

“There are a number of mitigation measures, and no one person has complete autonomy and authority to bound the city of New York or its taxpayers and any of the real estate deals,” Molina said.

This story has been updated with comment from DCAS.