Don deal
Starrett in $850M sale, still needs federal OK
THE NEWLY announced sale of a huge Brooklyn development co-owned by President Trump will have to be approved by his administration’s housing officials.
The owners of Starrett City, the nation’s largest publicly subsidized housing project, revealed Wednesday they’d reached an agreement to sell the property for $850 million.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, now run by Trump appointee Ben Carson, must review and sign off on the sale to ensure that Starrett’s 5,881 apartments remain affordable.
Trump’s father was an original investor in the project located on the Belt Parkway in East New York. About 16% of Starrett City is owned by Trump and his siblings, including 4% owned by Trump himself via trust. He reported receiving $5 million in revenue from the development last year.
HUD has subsidized the middleand lower-income tenants there for years. Since 2013 through May, the federal dollars totaled more than $491 million.
In announcing the planned sale to a joint venture called Brooksville Co. LLC, the owners, Starrett City Associates, noted that an earlier agreement requires that all units there remain affordable until 2039.
“This sale agreement provides stability for our residents, and guarantees their apartments will remain affordable for many years into the future,” Starrett City managing partner Carol Deane said.
The project is in HUD’s Region II, which is overseen by Lynne Patton, a longtime Trump family associate who helped plan the wedding of Trump’s son, Eric, and organized celebrity events at Trump’s golf courses.
Patton — who had zero prior housing experience — has said she will recuse herself from any involvement in the development.
In 2009, HUD refused to sign off on a prior attempted sale of Starrett City, officially known as Spring Creek Towers. At the time, Sen. Chuck Schumer and HUD thought the offered price was too low and indicated the new owner would raise rents.
On Wednesday, Schumer promised to continue “watching like a hawk to make sure any new owner follows every iota of that agreement.”
In July, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform subpoenaed thousands of pages of documents regarding Trump’s ownership of Starrett City. Reps. Elijah Cummings (DMd.) and Hakeem Jeffries (DBrooklyn) noted there were “numerous actions that the President or his administration could take to financially benefit himself, his family members or his business associates” there.