The New York City Council has approved the Community Option to Purchase Act, a measure designed to give nonprofit organizations a formal opportunity to pursue acquisitions of certain distressed apartment buildings. Under the new framework, nonprofits are granted a 90-day window to potentially acquire qualifying multifamily properties once they are placed on the market.
After clearing the City Council, the legislation now moves to Mayor Zohran Mamdani. According to prior public signals referenced in recent months, the mayor has indicated support for the measure, positioning the bill for likely enactment following Council passage.
The newly approved version of the Community Option to Purchase Act follows a more expansive proposal that did not become law. An earlier iteration was vetoed last year by then-Mayor Eric Adams. That prior version drew opposition from several real estate industry groups, including the Real Estate Board of New York, in part because of its broad coverage of the local multifamily stock.
The scale of the legislation has since been significantly narrowed. The earlier proposal would have applied to more than 10,000 apartment buildings across the city, capturing a wide swath of distressed multifamily assets. By contrast, the bill that passed on Thursday is described as more targeted in scope, now covering an estimated 2,100 apartment properties, according to the city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development.
Industry response to the revised framework has been notably different from the reaction to the earlier bill. James Whelan, president of the Real Estate Board of New York, told the New York Post that the organization appreciates what he characterized as constructive engagement and thoughtful leadership from Council Speaker Julie Menin and Council Member Sandy Nurse. His comments point to a level of collaboration between policymakers and industry advocates during the redrafting process.
Sandy Nurse played a central role in reshaping the legislation, having introduced the revised Community Option to Purchase Act earlier this year. The resulting bill is widely described as more practical and more narrowly focused than the earlier proposal, reflecting efforts to address concerns raised by multifamily stakeholders while preserving a defined role for nonprofit purchasers in the distressed segment of the apartment market.
For owners and investors in New York City's apartment sector, the measure formalizes a new procedural step when selling distressed buildings that fall under the bill's criteria. For nonprofits active in housing, the legislation establishes a clearer path to pursue acquisitions within a specific share of the city's distressed multifamily inventory once those assets are offered for sale.
