A former City Council member, Margarita Lopez, yesterday declared Mayor Bloomberg an “honorary lesbian” at a flirt-fest of a news conference during which she joined with the mayor to announce a real estate deal that is allowing a group of artists to purchase six buildings in the East Village for $6.

Ms. Lopez, a Democrat who crossed party lines to endorse Mr. Bloomberg in his campaign for re-election, has disclosed her affection for the mayor before, but yesterday she took her flirtation to a new level.

“It’s like a chemistry between him and I, to tell you the truth, because as soon as he sees me he starts joking with me. I feel in touch with him,” she said. “Honestly, we love each other. I love him and he loves me. Why is that? I don’t know. People fall in love because they like each other. …The only thing I can tell you, I always will be gay, and he always will be heterosexual.”

During the press conference, Mr. Bloomberg, who is usually serious with reporters, joked with Ms. Lopez that she didn’t make the best- or worst-dressed lists that appeared in some newspapers yesterday. She attributed her omission to the fact that she wears pants. He admitted, “I was on the worst-dressed side,” although he said, “I thought I was dressed fine.” Ms. Lopez replied, “You’re too cute for your own good.”

At another point in the press conference, Mr. Bloomberg asked Ms. Lopez if she could dance with him “backward in high heels,” and Ms. Lopez vowed to write a play featuring the mayor as the main character.

Ms. Lopez assured reporters that it is not the mayor’s vast personal wealth that attracts her to him. “The wallet doesn’t mean nothing, nothing to me,” she said.

Ms. Lopez doesn’t work for the administration – she vowed yesterday to start job hunting in two weeks – but she said she would do anything Mr. Bloomberg asked of her.

The odd couple joined to announce that 13 nonprofit cultural and community service organizations that for years have been located on East Fourth Street will purchase six buildings they have been renting from the city for $1 each and turn them into a permanent cultural space.

“From the city’s point of view, selling it for a dollar sounds like we don’t get anything for it, but its impact on the neighborhood and on property values and economic activity in the whole region probably makes that a very good investment for the city – to sell it for the dollar,” Mr. Bloomberg said.