Mamdani, Queens’ first mayor, to move to Manhattan

Zohran Mamdani will move from his block in Astoria, pictured here, to Gracie Mansion in January when he takes office as mayor. Eagle file photo by Jacob Kaye 

By Jacob Kaye

Zohran Mamdani, the first Queens resident to be elected mayor of New York City, will pack his bags over the coming weeks and make the move across the East River to Gracie Mansion when he takes office in January.

Mamdani, who has lived in Astoria for the better part of the last decade, announced on Monday that he and wife would move into the traditional residence of the city’s mayor in the coming weeks after avoiding answering questions about where he planned to live while running the city for the past month.

The outgoing assemblymember has represented his Western Queens neighborhood since 2020, living in a rent-stabilized, $2,300-a-month, one-bedroom apartment in the heart of Astoria.

In a lengthy statement announcing the move, the 33-year-old mostly reflected on his time in the World’s Borough and noted the many things he and his wife, illustrator Rama Duwaji, will miss about their home, including “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,” Mamdani said. “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.”

“While I may no longer live in Astoria, Astoria will always live inside me and the work I do,” Mamdani added.

The mayor-elect’s current neighbors might be happy to hear that sentiment. In November, several people who live on Mamdani’s block said that they were excited that, come January, the most powerful person in the five boroughs will know exactly what it’s like to walk down their street, catch the train at their subway stop, or eat at their local restaurants.

“I think a big reason why he won is because he knows this place, he knows this city from the ground up,” Jaime V., one of Mamdani’s neighbors, told the Eagle in November. “I’m a regular New Yorker and he lives across the street from me. He’s just a regular guy that has a really important message about affordability.”