Paul Massey Paul Massey: “I firmly believe that, with proper management, New York City’s best days are ahead.”

NEW YORK CITY—One of the local commercial real estate industry’s own has thrown his hat in the ring for next year’s mayoral election.

Paul Massey—best known as co-founder and CEO of Massey Knakal, which was purchased by Cushman & Wakefield in 2014—filed papers Thursday with the NYC Campaign Finance Board to create a legal committee for a 2017 mayoral run. The committee will be called “Massey for Mayor 2017.”

An industry veteran of more than 30 years, Massey is now president of New York investment sales at C&W. The candidate will not enter the New York City public matching fund program, his staff tells the press. Instead, Massey’s campaign will be financed entirely by donors, including himself. A formal announcement of Massey’s candidacy will be made in the fall.

“I love this city and I am concerned about where it’s headed,” Massey declares. “My team and I are taking a leadership role by filing my candidacy today. We are currently meeting with New York City civic and thought leaders, as well as with individual New Yorkers, to hear their ideas and to listen to their concerns. In the months ahead, we will be sharing our strategic vision for the city.

“My team will be top-notch and bipartisan,” he continues. “It was Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia who famously noted that there’s no Democratic or Republican way to pick up the trash, and he was right.

“I firmly believe that, with proper management, New York City’s best days are ahead,” Massey predicts. “This is not a tale of two cities; this is the world’s greatest city and diversity is our strength.

“My partners and I built a successful business over three decades based on an intimate knowledge of every neighborhood in the five boroughs,” he asserts. “I look forward to deepening my connections to each of those communities as a candidate and as mayor.”