Starrett City, Brooklyn
Encyclopedia
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. Starrett City opened in 1974, and in 2002, changed its name to the Spring Creek Towers. The neighborhood is part of Brooklyn Community Board 5
Brooklyn Community Board 5
Brooklyn Community Board 5 is a local governmental body in the New York City borough of Brooklyn that encompasses the neighborhoods of East New York, Cypress Hills, Highland Park, New Lots, City Line, and Starrett City...
. Starrett City is patrolled by the NYPD's 75th Precinct.
The Starrett City site spanned over 153 acre (0.61916958 km²) before being subdivided in 2009 as part of a refinancing. The housing development contains 5,881 apartment units in 46 buildings, and is said to be the largest federally assisted rental property in the United States. The residential site also includes eight parking garages, a community center, and a number of parcels of undeveloped land were separated out from the residential site as part of the refinancing.
The residential portion of the property has eight "sections" each including several buildings, its own field, recreational area (jungle gym
Jungle gym
The jungle gym, monkey bars, or climbing frame, is a piece of playground equipment made of many pieces of material, such as metal pipe or rope, on which children can climb, hang, or sit. The monkey bar designation refers to the rambunctious, climbing play of monkeys.-History:The first jungle gym...
, park, handball
American handball
American handball is a sport in which players hit a small rubber ball against a wall using their hands.- History :...
court, basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
court) and a parking garage for residents in that section. These sections are Ardsley, Bethel, Croton, Delmar, Elmira, Freeport, Geneva, and Hornell; each named after municipalities in Westchester County and upstate New York
Upstate New York
Upstate New York is the region of the U.S. state of New York that is located north of the core of the New York metropolitan area.-Definition:There is no clear or official boundary between Upstate New York and Downstate New York...
(except for Freeport, which is on Long Island). Each building has between 11 and 20 floors, with eight apartments on most floors. All of the apartment buildings have a street address as well as a building name consisting of one letter from A-H, and one number from 1-8. In this case, A5 would refer to the fifth building of Ardsley Loop.
Starrett City is a very diverse neighborhood. With its many grassy fields, Fresh Creek, and Spring Creek
Spring Creek
A spring creek is a stream that flows from a spring. Spring Creek may also refer to any of the following specific places:- United States :*Spring Creek Correctional Center, a state prison in Seward, Alaska...
Towers Shopping Center, it is different in landscape
Landscape
Landscape comprises the visible features of an area of land, including the physical elements of landforms such as mountains, hills, water bodies such as rivers, lakes, ponds and the sea, living elements of land cover including indigenous vegetation, human elements including different forms of...
, community
Community
The term community has two distinct meanings:*a group of interacting people, possibly living in close proximity, and often refers to a group that shares some common values, and is attributed with social cohesion within a shared geographical location, generally in social units larger than a household...
, and neighborhood life than other regions of Brooklyn. The community has its own newspaper known as the Spring Creek Sun.
Spring Creek Towers Public Safety
Starrett City's Spring Creek Towers Department of Public Safety has been used as a case study in the advantages of private security over public policing. Donovan and Walsh note, "Statistically, Starrett City must be considered one of the safest communities in the United States."The Spring Creek Towers Department of Public Safety employs armed peace officer
Peace officer
A law enforcement officer , in North America, is any public-sector employee or agent whose duties involve the enforcement of laws. The phrase can include police officers, prison officers, customs officers, immigration officers, bailiffs, probation officers, parole officers, auxiliary officers, and...
s to preserve the life and property of the residents of the complex. Officers enforce New York State Laws as well as New York City laws. Starrett City is patrolled by Public Safety Officers 24 hours a day on foot, bikes
Police bicycle
A Police bicycle is a land vehicle used by police departments, most commonly in the form of a mountain bicycle. They are designed to meet the requirements unique to each department....
, or in vehicles. The department also has specialized units modeled after the New York City Police Department.
Demographics
As of the 2000 U.S. Census, there were 14,620 people living in Starett City. The demographics of Starett City were 44.7% African AmericanAfrican American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
, 38.0% White
White
White is a color, the perception of which is evoked by light that stimulates all three types of color sensitive cone cells in the human eye in nearly equal amounts and with high brightness compared to the surroundings. A white visual stimulation will be void of hue and grayness.White light can be...
, 18.4% Hispanic
Hispanic
Hispanic is a term that originally denoted a relationship to Hispania, which is to say the Iberian Peninsula: Andorra, Gibraltar, Portugal and Spain. During the Modern Era, Hispanic sometimes takes on a more limited meaning, particularly in the United States, where the term means a person of ...
or Latino
Latino
The demonyms Latino and Latina , are defined in English language dictionaries as:* "a person of Latin-American descent."* "A Latin American."* "A person of Hispanic, especially Latin-American, descent, often one living in the United States."...
and 4.1% Asian
Asian people
Asian people or Asiatic people is a term with multiple meanings that refers to people who descend from a portion of Asia's population.- Central Asia :...
. As of 2000, the median household income
Income
Income is the consumption and savings opportunity gained by an entity within a specified time frame, which is generally expressed in monetary terms. However, for households and individuals, "income is the sum of all the wages, salaries, profits, interests payments, rents and other forms of earnings...
was $56,919.
2007 Sale Offering
Starrett City Associates
Starrett City Associates is a group of investors, led by Disque Deane, that built and owned the Starrett City housing complex in Brooklyn, New York.At the time it was built, Starrett City was the largest housing development in the nation....
, the owner of the complex, announced an offering to sell the entire property. Since the property had met its 20-year requirement under Mitchell-Lama by the late 1990s, this raised fears that a new owner would increase rents and squeeze out current tenants. CB Richard Ellis
CB Richard Ellis
CBRE Group, Inc. , a Fortune 500 and S&P 500 company headquartered in Los Angeles, is the world’s largest commercial real estate services firm . The Company has approximately 31,000 employees , and serves real estate owners, investors and occupiers through more than 300 offices worldwide...
, which brokered the Peter Cooper Village/Stuyvesant Town
Stuyvesant Town
Stuyvesant Town—Peter Cooper Village is a large private residential development on the East Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City, and one of the most iconic and successful post-World War II private housing communities...
deal earlier in 2006, served as the listing agent.
Upon finding out about the sale, tenants at Starrett City began organizing in response to the sale of their homes. The state's largest tenants rights group, Tenants and Neighbors, met with Starrett tenants to inform them of their rights and options. The Starrett City tenants also partnered with the community activist organization ACORN
Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now
The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now was a collection of community-based organizations in the United States that advocated for low- and moderate-income families by working on neighborhood safety, voter registration, health care, affordable housing, and other social issues...
to form Save Starrett City.
On February 8, 2007, at 3 a.m., Starrett City Associates agreed to sell the sprawling complex to Clipper Equity LLC
Clipper Equity LLC
Clipper Equity LLC is a partnership led by David Bistricer and Sam Levinson. The partnership made an offer to purchase the Starrett City housing complex in Brooklyn, New York, for $1.3 billion on February 8, 2007 in one of the largest real estate transactions in history....
for a staggering $1.3 billion. Although the buyers insisted the complex will remain affordable, housing advocates were concerned that the high price will require rent increases and service cuts. New York's Mayor Michael Bloomberg
Michael Bloomberg
Michael Rubens Bloomberg is the current Mayor of New York City. With a net worth of $19.5 billion in 2011, he is also the 12th-richest person in the United States...
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. Similarly, Congressmen Anthony Weiner and Edolphus Towns expressed concern about the sale and indicated that federal hearings may be held into the matter. Senator Charles Schumer
Charles Schumer
Charles Ellis "Chuck" Schumer is the senior United States Senator from New York and a member of the Democratic Party. First elected in 1998, he defeated three-term Republican incumbent Al D'Amato by a margin of 55%–44%. He was easily re-elected in 2004 by a margin of 71%–24% and in 2010 by a...
went 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."
In response to HUD
United States Department of Housing and Urban Development
The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, also known as HUD, is a Cabinet department in the Executive branch of the United States federal government...
's rejection of the deal, Clipper Equity proposed 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 6000000 square feet (557,418.2 m²) 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." Clipper Equity has taken other steps to garner support, including receiving informal backing from influential ministers Rev. Calvin O. Butts
Calvin O. Butts
Calvin O. Butts, III , is the Pastor of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in the City of New York, President of the State University of New York College at Old Westbury, and Chairman and founder of the Abyssinian Development Corporation, an engine for $500 million in housing and commercial development...
and Rev. A.R. Bernard
A.R. Bernard
A. R. Bernard is the Founder, Senior Pastor and CEO of Christian Cultural Center located in Brooklyn, New York, United States...
.
On April 7, 2007, the New York State
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
Department of Housing and Community Renewal Commissioner Deborah Van Amerongen rejected Clipper Equity's second proposal. She stated that Clipper's plan for rents to reach market rate after three years failed to adequately protect residents and would require increased government subsidies to keep housing there affordable.
Nevertheless, Clipper Equity made another attempt in August 2007.
2008 Sale Offering
In June 2008, Starrett City Associates reached an agreement with Federal, State and City officials on a sale process which would ensure that the property remains affordable. This agreement was further buttressed by federal legislation, which made preserving the property as affordable housing easier for a new buyer.Schools
Abe Stark Elementary School, (P.S.346)Gateway Intermediate School, (I.S. 364)
Frederick Douglas Academy VIII (4th Floor of P.S. 346)
The nearest high schools, Canarsie High School
Canarsie High School
Canarsie High School is a public high school in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Canarsie in New York City.-Student demographics:84.51% Black or African American, 11.47% Hispanic or Latino, 2.07% White non-Hispanic, 1.66% Asian and 0.28% Native American. The student/teacher ratio is 22.0. The school is...
and South Shore High School are located in Canarsie
Canarsie, Brooklyn
Canarsie is a neighborhood in the southeastern portion of the borough of Brooklyn, in New York City, United States. The area is part of Brooklyn Community Board 18....
.
Also, a Jewish private school, Be'er Hagolah (BHI), is located on 671 Louisiana Ave.
It also has its own boxing gym, Starrett City Boxing on Hornell Loop. It is home to many World Champion boxers, including Zab Judah
Zab Judah
Zabdiel Judah is an American professional boxer. Judah has won five world titles between the junior welterweight and welterweight divisions, and is a former undisputed welterweight champion....
, Shannon Briggs, Dimitry Salita and Luis Collazo.