Mamdani signs law giving nonprofits first dibs to buy distressed NYC properties

Mayor Zohran Mamdani signed a controversial law Tuesday that gives nonprofits first dibs at buying distressed residential buildings in the Big Apple.Hizzoner put his John Hancock on the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act — only the second bill he’s signed in the 11 months since he took office — after the City Council quietly resurrected a watered-down version of the bill last month.The “COPA” law will affect about 2,100 properties across the five boroughs, officials said at Brooklyn news conference outside a Cypress Hills housing development.“I am so proud today to sign COPA into law — a historic piece of legislation that will provide vetted community organizations with the right of first opportunity to make an offer on eligible buildings before they go to the open market,” Mamdani told reporters.The bill was likely to become law even without the mayor’s back after it passed the City Council with a veto-proof 38-9 majority last month with the support of progressives and Council Speaker Julie Menin.But the mayor actually signing the bill is a rarity in his tenure.Critics have noted Mamdani has allowed more than 100 other bills to pass “returned unsigned” – a process that allows legislation to become law after four weeks if it sits on Hizzoner’s desk without a veto.The law has come up multiple times but was called an “attack on private real estate ownership” before it was tweaked in recent weeks, eventually getting buy-in from some real estate groups.City Council member Sandy Nurse (D-Brooklyn) said the compromise law will still be “the largest opportunity to purchase program in the country.“Six years, six years, four introductions, four hearings, three mayors, two times it was passed, one time it was vetoed—that is the very short history of the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act,” Nurse said.The law, which will go into effect one year from Tuesday, prevents landlords of primarily rent-stabilized buildings with outstanding...