Starrett City partners sue to halt sale

TWO PARTNERS in Starrett City, the Brooklyn housing complex co-owned by President Trump, filed suit Thursday to stop the sale of the development, claiming the $880 million offer is below market rate.

The children of Disque Deane, an original Starrett City investor with Trump’s family, and another partner, Starrett City Affordable LP LLC, sued the managing partners of the project, the biggest federally subsidized housing development in the nation.

On Sept. 6, the managing partners, Starrett City Inc., which is run by Deane’s third wife, Carol, announced their intent to sell the 5,881-unit complex for $880 million.

Limited partner SCA then made a counter-offer of $905 million that was rejected.

On Thursday, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Saliann Scarpulla denied the partners’ emergency request to block the sale. The suit, however, remains pending.

“The process was irregular, to say the least,” said Steven Engel, lawyer for some of the shareholders.

The suit claims the managing partners “conspired to sell Starrett City for less than market value through an opaque, dubious and needlessly expedited process characterized by conflicts of interest, withholding of material information and misrepresentations.”

The suit does not target Trump, who with his siblings is a limited partner who owns about 16% of Starrett City. Trump himself holds a 4% stake that earned him $5 million last year.

The sale of Starrett City, formally known as Spring Creek Towers, requires approval of federal housing officials in the Trump administration. In 2009, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development shot down one attempted sale, deciding it was being sold for too little.