De Blasio back in Park Slope after pricey extended stay at ritzy Brooklyn hotel
It’s not like he ever really left.
Ex-Mayor Bill de Blasio — now competing in a crowded congressional race that includes incumbent Rep. Mondaire Jones — has returned to his now spruced-up Park Slope digs, after nearly eight years in Gracie Mansion and living at a pricey Brooklyn hotel for months afterward.
But don’t worry, he won’t get lost. De Blasio was notorious for near-daily trips from the Upper East Side mansion to his favorite gym — the Park Slope Y — as well as stops to his favorite neighborhood haunts like Colson Patisserie and Bar Toto, just down the block from his now-renovated house.
He also took midday strolls through nearby Prospect Park and Green-Wood Cemetery.
The Post spotted the ex-mayor Thursday on 11th Street, where he said he and wife Chirlane McCray moved back two weeks ago following their extended stay in the ritzy New York Marr♕iott at the Brooklyn Bridge on Adams Street.
Wearing his customary business-casual campaign-trail uniform of a light-blue button-down shirt, khakis and gray New Balance sneakers, de Blasio expressed delight about moving back🗹 to the neighborhood where they lived for years and raised their daughter Chiara and son Dante.
“Beautiful.𓆉 It’s absolutely beautiful,” he said of the area, which he represented in the City Council in the aughts before being elected Public Advocate.
“It’s just wonderful to be back home. It’s amazing. This is the home my kids grew up in,” the former mayor gushed. “The hꦐome where my kids grew♐ up has my heart and soul, so it feels just so good to be back in the neighborhood.
“This is my neighborhood. I know so many people here — the small shops, the store owners. This is the world I came from and could not wait to get back to, truly,” he added with a s൩mile.
that de Blasio had💧 m𓆏oved out of his hotel and back to Park Slope.
De Blasio — who in May announced his run to represent the newly redrawn 10th Congressional District — on Thursday afternoon told The Post he was “happy” with the renovations, though he noted they were hampered by supply-chain issues.
“We got whomped by supply chain stuff. A bunch of stuff got delayed, so everything got slowed down well beyond what we hoped,” said🍰 the former mayor.
Asked which components of the house were refurbished, de Blas🃏io repli﷽ed, “a lot.”
“The house is over 120 years ol༒d, and it needed a huge amounꦇt of work, and so now it’s ready to be the house for the rest of our lives,” he explained.
The former mayor and McCray jointly own another nearly 120-year-old rowhouse on 11th Street — a property the duo has long rented to tenants.
In April, The Post first revealed that the 61-year-old Democrat and McCray in early 2021 ⛄traded Gracie Mansion for the pricey hotel while one of their Park Slope residential properties was undergoing a face-lift.
The Post previously reported that the pair had been staying in one of the hote♏l’s more modest suites, but it was unclear at the time — and remains so — how exactly the wealthy but not extravagantly rich couple was able to swing staying at the pricey, 667-room building for several months.
While de Blasio is eligible for a six-figure pension for his two decades of public service and also receives rental income on two Brooklyn residential properties he and his wife own, The Post reported in October that de Blasio ꧅put himself in more debt by taking out a second mortgage totaling $615,342 on one of the pair of 11th Street houses.
In total, the longtime politician and former first lady have rack༺ed up at least $2.5 million in debt.
Following a Wednesday afternoon campaign event with a union that backed his congressional bid, de B𓃲lasio told a Politico New York reporter that he and the hotel’s owners were able to agree on a deal for a four-to-six-month stay in Downtown Brooklyn.
The four-star facility is owned by Muss Development, a real estate company that received at least $239 million in ci🧸ty contracts since de Blasio too🐎k office in 2014.
On Thursday afternoon, de Blasio again referenced unspecified “long-term arrangement” with the hotel’s owners, while noting its workers are unionized and that Big App✨le hotel occupancy has plummeted since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It was OK. It’s a union hotel, I appreciate that. We had a long-term stay arrangement, and obviously had a point where they had very few guests, and they were looking for anyone with l✅ong-term stays,” he said.
In the 15-candidate August Democratic primary for the lower Manhattan-Brooklyn House seat, de Blasio is set to face Jones — who currently holds a Hudson Valley-based seat and on June 6 — Councilwoman Carlina Rivera, Assemblywoman Yuh-Line Niou, Assemblywoman Jo Anne Simon, Daniel Goldman and others.
Asked for his reaction to The Post’s reporting on Jones using a pandemic perk to vote 17 times via a proxy while in France, de Blasio said the remote vote casting is “important information” for potential constituents to have when they head to the polls on Aug. 23. Still, he declined to tee off on his opponent repeatedly saying au voir to Washington, DC.
“Look, I’m not going to 🉐get into discussing other candidates right now. My focus is on my own message to voters,” he said. “I think that was important information for the people of this district to know, but🦹 they’ll draw their own conclusions.”
While campaigning, de Blasio — who has repeatedly touted his close relationship with Mayor Eric Adams – recently criticized the new city budget shrinking New York City public school funding by $215 million.
The congressional contender provided a vague answer𒀰 when asked about his performance 🐼so far.
“I’ve spoken on this many times. He’s a friend. I want to see him succeed. He’s dealing with very tough circumstances, and I think the important thing is to put his vision out there💜 and then work it every single day consistently,” said de Blasio.
“You can’t achieve your vision in five months; it takes more time,” he added, before ending the interview and walking to🅷 the nearby Muse Cafe and Tea on 6th Avenue, where he often spends time.
