New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has put an end to speculation over where he will live once he takes office. Mamdani confirmed Monday he and his wife Rama will move in to Gracie Mansion.
As recently as last week, the mayor-elect told reporters he hadn’t yet decided on his future residence.
In a statement Monday, Mamdani said one of the reasons for the move was his family’s safety. He said living in Gracie Mansion will also help him focus on his affordability agenda.
Gracie Mansion was built in 1799, and the historic home has housed New York City mayors since the 1940s. It sits at East End Avenue and 88th Street in Manhattan’s Yorkville neighborhood, overlooking the East River.
“Only a ferry and a Citi Bike ride away”
Mamdani offered a fond farewell to his beloved Astoria as he prepares for the move to Manhattan, saying, “Astoria will always live inside me and the work I do.”
“There’s so much I will miss about Astoria. I think even just the memories of my wife and I’s apartment, our neighborhood, the sounds, the aromas, just being a few blocks from some of the favorite places in our city,” Mamdani told reporters Tuesday morning. “I will carry those with me in Gracie Mansion in the work that I do, and I know that they’re only a ferry and a Citi Bike ride away.”
Read Mamdani’s full statement on the move to Gracie Mansion
My wife Rama and I have made the decision to move into Gracie Mansion in January.
We will miss much about our home in Astoria. Cooking dinner side by side in our kitchen, sharing a sleepy elevator ride with our neighbors in the evening, hearing music and laughter vibrate through the walls of the apartment.
To Astoria: thank you for showing us the best of New York City. We have called this neighborhood home as our city weathered a devastating pandemic, cruel attacks on immigrants, and years of an affordability crisis. Time and again, this community has shown up for one another. We will miss it all — the endless Adeni chai, the spirited conversations in Spanish, Arabic and every language in between, the aromas of seafood and shawarma drifting down the block.
This decision came down to our family’s safety and the importance of dedicating all of my focus on enacting the affordability agenda New Yorkers voted for.
My priority, always, is serving the people who call this city home. I will be a mayor for the line cooks on Steinway, for the children swinging at Dutch Kills Playground, for the bus riders waiting for the Q101. While I may no longer live in Astoria, Astoria will always live inside me and the work I do.
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