NEW YORK — Jesse Hamilton, the Adams administration’s top real estate official who’s ensnared in a corruption investigation, appeared in a promotional video for a Bronx warehouse that his city agency tried to buy — and the unusual clip was produced by an aide to Hamilton who also disseminated it to other city agencies, the Daily News has learned.

In the undated three-minute clip, Hamilton, donning a hard hat, appears in front of the Bronx Logistics Center in Hunts Point and says the 1.3 million square feet building would be a “phenomenal place” to “accommodate a lot of the city’s agencies” if his team at the Department of Citywide Administrative Services acquires or leases it from its private owners.

City Councilman Lincoln Restler, who unearthed the video and screened it at a Council oversight hearing Wednesday, said the clip was “bizarre” and “frankly smells funny,” given that Hamilton, DCAS’ deputy commissioner of real estate services, could be seen “promoting the best interests” of the building owners.

After the hearing, DCAS Commissioner Louis Molina, Hamilton’s boss, said the video was “unauthorized” and that his agency won’t move forward with a lease or acquisition of the Bronx Logistics Center at this time.

It remained unclear immediately after the hearing when the video was taken, who shot it and for what purpose.

On Thursday, two sources familiar with the matter revealed to the Daily News that the clip was shot and produced by Charles Gross, a DCAS employee who serves as an aide to Hamilton in his real estate services division. Gross also uploaded the clip to YouTube and disseminated it to other city agencies, including the NYPD, that were thought to be able to use the Bronx Logistics Center should DCAS enter into a deal for the space, the sources said.

Gross, who was hired at DCAS in February 2022 shortly after Eric Adams took office, didn’t return requests for comment Thursday.

DCAS spokesman Dan Kastanis wouldn’t comment on Gross’ role or say who, if anyone, directed him to make the video. Kastanis did say “the video in question is under review.”

“We can say with confidence that this was not a DCAS production and was never shared on any of our official channels,” said Kastanis, who added DCAS has determined the Bronx Logistics Center isn’t a good fit for a city acquisition after all. He cited that decision to discussions with several agencies that he didn’t identify.

Gross is an amateur theatre critic, and the sources said he uploaded the video on his personal YouTube page called “Two On The Aisle Broadway Theatre Reviews,” and then sent the link to agency officials. The video’s no longer available on Gross’ page, and sources said former DCAS Commissioner Dawn Pinnock, who resigned from the administration this summer, ordered it removed upon learning about it.

City employees are prohibited by law from using city government time or resources to engage in “private activities.” It’s unclear if Gross produced the Bronx Logistic Center while at work.

Restler argued the video is a “misguided use of city resources” no matter when Gross made it, given that Hamilton — and two other city officials who appear with him in the clip — are identified in it by their government titles.

“DCAS should be focused on making sure city workers have adequate space, not doing the bidding of private landlords,” Restler said.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Investigation, which is involved in several of the corruption probes into Adams’ administration, said Thursday her agency “is aware” of Gross’ video, but declined further comment. The Manhattan district attorney’s office, which is leading the investigation into the administration’s real estate practices, didn’t return a request for comment.

Manhattan DA agents seized Hamilton’s phone as part of its investigation on Sept. 27 at JFK Airport as he arrived in New York from a trip to Japan. With him on the Japan trip was Ingrid Lewis-Martin, the mayor’s chief adviser, and Diana Boutross, a close friend to Lewis-Martin who’s a top broker at the Cushman & Wakefield real estate firm. Both Lewis-Martin and Boutross also had their devices seized by DA investigators when they landed at JFK.

The DA has to date not accused Hamilton, Boutross or Lewis-Martin of wrongdoing. The DA inquiry is separate from the federal investigation that resulted in Adams’ indictment in September on criminal charges alleging he took bribes from Turkish government operatives in exchange for political favors; he has pleaded not guilty.

The DA probe is reportedly focused on possible bribery, money laundering and other crimes related to DCAS’ commercial leasing program, which Hamilton oversees in his role as deputy commissioner. Boutross’ firm, meantime, is one of only two real estate companies that serve as DCAS’ licensed brokers in dealings with private property owners — a business model in which the firms are paid large commissions for facilitating transactions.

Reslter confirmed to The News this week he has learned Boutross was directly involved in trying to broker the Bronx Logistics Center deal.

During Wednesday’s hearing, Molina confirmed the same, testifying he met with Boutross and Hamilton in his office on Oct. 8 — after their phones were seized — to discuss the “possible acquisition” of the logistics center. Hamilton, a former state senator who has been a close political ally and friend to Adams for decades, has continued to work at DCAS since his phone was confiscated without any modifications to his duties, Molina also said.

Besides Hamilton, the video produced by Gross about the logistics center featured George Donohue, DCAS’ assistant director of leasing, and Erik Abad, an assistant director in the mayor’s budget office. Both Donohue and Abad praise the logistics center in the video, too.

“This is exactly the future of the city and where we need to be,” Abad said.

Adams’ office didn’t return a request for comment on Abad’s participation in the video.

The owners of the logistics center is 980 BLC, a corporate entity made up of Turnbridge Equities and Dune Real Estate Partners, two major construction firms in the city, business records show.

City records show the joint entity has since 2023 lobbied Hamilton, Donohue and other top members of Adams’ administration, including NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Operations Kaz Daughtry and Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch, about the “development” of the Bronx Logistics Center.

Meantime, executives at JLL, another real estate firm that secured financing for the development of the Bronx Logistics Center, have donated $15,350 to Adams’ 2021 and 2025 mayoral campaigns. That includes a $1,050 donation on July 9 to Adams’ reelection campaign from Alexander Chudnoff, JLL’s vice chairman.

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(With Josephine Stratman.)

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