NEW YORK CITY-Building owners and developers are trying to link landmarking with newly elected Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio's goal of building more affordable housing in the city.

The city's real estate industry has been battling preservationists over attempts to secure landmark status on structures in Tin Pan Alley. The city's builders contend that overzealous preservation is undermining the creation of affordable housing and jobs, according to the Wall Street Journal.

"What I am concerned about is that we're taking out of development and redevelopment a very large portion of the city. You've got a big chunk of the city that's just off limits," says Richard Anderson, president of the New York Building Congress. The Building Congress is calling for a freeze on the creation of new historic districts while the landmark designation process is reviewed.

Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, counters, "They're just desperately trying to latch onto the issues that de Blasio has put forward by saying that if you let developers have their way with the city it will suddenly become an affordable paradise.” See story in the Wall Street Journal.