Sources
Help build the largest human-edited directory on the web.
Submit a site - Become an editor
Wikipedia. Licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Are you an expert in this subject? Join the discussion and share your knowledge at Wikipedia.org.
Starrett City, Brooklyn
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Starrett City is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Starrett City opened in 1974, and in 2002, changed its name to the Spring Creek Towers.[1] The neighborhood is part of Brooklyn Community Board 5.
It has eight "sections" in which each include several buildings, its own field, recreational area (jungle gym, park, handball court, basketball court) and its own garage for the residents in that section. These sections are Ardsley, Bethel, Croton, Delmar, Elmira, Freeport, Geneva, and Hornell; each named after municipalities in upstate New York. Each building has between 11 and 20 floors, with 8 apartments on most floors.
Starrett City has one elementary school and one middle school. The nearest high schools, Canarsie High School and South Shore, are located in Canarsie.
Starrett City is a very diverse neighborhood. With its many grassy fields, Fresh Creek, and Spring Creek Towers Shopping Center, it is different in landscape, community, and neighborhood life than other regions of Brooklyn.
 |
This section documents a current event. Information may change rapidly as the event progresses. |
On November 30, 2006, Starrett City Associates, the owner of the complex, began to offer the sale of the entire property, raising fears that a new owner will raise rents and squeeze out current tenants.[2] CB Richard Ellis, which brokered the Peter Cooper Village/Stuyvesant Town deal earlier in 2006, will serve as the listing agent.[3] Real estate analysts predict that the complex could be auctioned for over $1 billion.[4]
Upon finding out about the sale, tenants at Starrett City began organizing in response to the sale of their homes. They have partnered with the community activist organization ACORN to form Save Starrett City.
On February 8, 2007, at 3AM, Starrett City Associates agreed to sell the sprawling complex to Clipper Equity LLC for a staggering $1.3 billion[5]. The buyers say that the complex has a great potential to develop new housing communities, both luxury and affordable. Although they insist that the complex will remain affordable, housing advocates continue to be concerned with rent raise and service cuts, forcing its current low- and moderate-income residents out of the complex over time. New York's Mayor Bloomberg expressed doubt about Clipper Equities intentions and contrasted the sale to the similar Stuyvesant Town sale. Bloomberg called Tishman Speyer, the purchaser of Stuyvesant Town, a reputable landlord, compared to Clipper Equities. "There are questions about this landlord and some of the plans that they have to build other things there," he said.[6] Similarly, Congressmen Anthony Weiner and Edolphus Towns have expressed concern about the sale and indicated that federal hearings may be held into the matter.[7] Senator Charles Schumer has gone even further and "vowed ... that he would not allow the deal to go through without an ironclad agreement from any buyer that Starrett stays affordable."[8]
On March 1, 2007, Alphonso Jackson, the United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, announced that his department would refuse to approve the sale of Starrett City to Clipper Equity "unless a consensus can be reached among the various parties that 'a comprehensive plan exists to preserve affordability and the quality of life for project residents.'"[9] Additionally, according to the Associated Press, Clipper partner David Bistricer has been under a federal injunction since 1998 against selling cooperative buildings and apartments like Starrett City; New York Attorney-General Andrew Cuomo has declared that he will seek enforcement of the injunction.[10]
In response to HUD's rejection of the deal, Clipper Equity has scrambled to propose a new bid aimed at appeasing its critics. Clipper's new bid claims that it can "trim operating expenses by installing new heating and cooling systems, lowering management fees and improving overall efficiencies," and thus keep housing affordable. The bid further raises the possibility of turning some 6 million square feet of undeveloped land on the property into "new housing for the senior residents, a retirement facility for members of the city’s labor unions and small-scale retail, with a designated area for local entrepreneurs."[11] Additionally, the New York Observer reported that Rudy Giuliani's former mayoral chief of staff Bruce Teitelbaum, an investor in Clipper Equity, is heavily lobbying politicians to accept the new proposal.[12]
- ^ Close-Up on Starrett City, Brooklyn, The Village Voice, April 6, 2005
- ^ Starrett City owners eye Stuy-high offers, New York Daily News, December 1, 2006
- ^ Agent says auction for residential complex. Shanghai Daily, December 4, 2006
- ^ Brooklyn Apartment Complex Could Fetch $1B-Plus, Commercial Property News, December 1, 2006
- ^ Apartment Complex in Brooklyn Sold for $1.3 Billion
- ^ Mayor wary of new Starrett owners, The Real Deal, February 9, 2007
- ^ Congressmen Call For Hearings Into Starrett City Sale, NY1, Feb. 11, 2007
- ^ Schumer to New Starrett Owners: Keep It Affordable or Else, The New York Observer's The Real Estate blog, Feb. 12, 2007
- ^ HUD Blocks Proposed Sale of Starrett City, New York Times, Mar. 2, 2007
- ^ Sources: Feds block Starrett City sale, amNewYork, Mar. 1, 2007
- ^ Starrett City bidder readies new proposal, Crain's New York Business, Mar. 9, 2007
- ^ Bruce T. and Chuck S. Rumble in Starrett City, The New York Observer, Mar. 19, 2007
 |
This New York City-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |