Starrett City Associates

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Starrett City Associates is a group of investors, led by Disque Deane, that owned the Starrett City housing complex in Brooklyn, New York City until 2008. The firm is best known for unsuccessfully defending a landmark civil rights lawsuit that concerned "reverse discrimination" and racial quotas in the housing complex, and for controversy during the sale of the development in the mid-2000s. [1]

Disque D. Deane was a prominent American financier and investor. He was the founder of, and a general partner in Starrett City Associates, which owns Starrett City in Brooklyn. Deane was at one time a partner at Lazard, the investment bank, where he revolutionized corporate finance by pioneering sale-leaseback transactions.

Starrett City, Brooklyn Neighborhood of Brooklyn

Starrett City is a housing development in the Spring Creek section of East New York, in Brooklyn, New York City. It is located on a peninsula on the north shore of Jamaica Bay, bounded by Fresh Creek to the west and Hendrix Creek to the east. Starrett City contains both residential and commercial buildings. The residential portion of the property contains eight "sections" in a towers in the park layout. The complex also contains a community and recreation center, as well as two schools.

Brooklyn Borough in New York City and county in New York state, United States

Brooklyn is the most populous borough of New York City, with an estimated 2,648,771 residents in 2017. Named after the Dutch village of Breukelen, it borders the borough of Queens at the western end of Long Island. Brooklyn has several bridge and tunnel connections to the borough of Manhattan across the East River, and the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge connects Staten Island. Since 1896, Brooklyn has been coterminous with Kings County, the most populous county in the U.S. state of New York and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, after New York County.

Contents

History

Starrett City was constructed from 1972 to 1975, as part of the Fresh Creek Urban Renewal Act to develop the area now known as Spring Creek, Brooklyn. [1] [2] At the time it was built, Starrett City was the largest housing development in the nation, [3] and remains the largest federally subsidized apartment complex. [1]

Spring Creek, Brooklyn Neighborhood of Brooklyn

Spring Creek, previously called Spring Creek Basin, is a neighborhood within the East New York section of Brooklyn in New York City. Part of Brooklyn Community Board 5, it roughly comprises the southern portions of East New York between Flatlands Avenue to the north, and Jamaica Bay and the Gateway National Recreation Area to the south, with the Brooklyn neighborhood of Canarsie to the west and the Queens neighborhood of Howard Beach to the east. It is named after Spring Creek, one of several creeks that formerly ran through the area and drained into Jamaica Bay.

Discrimination charges

In 1980, the NAACP initiated a class-action suit against Starrett City Associates and charged that the owner of the housing complex attempted to maintain racial quotas by selective approval of tenants based on racial and ethnic profiles. The quotas caused minority applicants to wait longer than white applicants for spaces in the complex. Starrett City Associates argued that the quotas were necessary to maintain racial balance. In other words, if the quotas had not been in place, the population would have been disproportionately non-white. The New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal was also named as a defendant in the suit because it had oversight of the public money spent to build the project and allowed the quotas to exist. The case was appealed to the United States Supreme Court in the fall of 1988, and the court ruled against Starrett. [4]

NAACP Civil rights organization in the United States

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as a bi-racial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du Bois, Mary White Ovington and Moorfield Storey.

In 1990, Starrett proposed to make apartments available to Soviet Jews who came to the United States in order to maintain racial diversity. [5]

Sale of Starrett City

In early 2007, Starrett City Associates attempted to sell Starrett City for $1.3 billion to Clipper Equity LLC, a partnership of David Bistricer and Sam Levinson. The sale was ultimately unsuccessful due to public opposition. [6] However, Clipper Equity made another attempt in August 2007. [7] A renewed effort to sell the property began in June 2008. [8] Starrett City Associates finally sold the complex in September 2017. [9]

David Bistricer is a New York-based real estate developer and the founder and principal of Clipper Equity. His firm focuses on the conversion of non-residential buildings to residential uses. One of Bistricer's latest ventures, in partnership with Chetrit Group, is the transformation of the shuttered four-building Cabrini Medical Center at 220 and 230 East 20th Street and 215 and 225 East 19th Street into a residential a condo project, Gramercy Square, with 223 units. The Woods Bagot-designed development features a different style for each property: a modern, a prewar, a boutique and a tower building. It also has about 38,000 square feet of amenities including a 75' sky-lit pool, a gym, a theater, a meditation room exclusively programmed by MNDFL and a wine cellar. And there’s ample green space with a courtyard, a greenhouse and landscaping around the buildings.

Related Research Articles

Racial quotas in employment and education are numerical requirements for hiring, promoting, admitting and/or graduating members of a particular racial group. Racial quotas are often established as means of diminishing racial discrimination, addressing under-representation and evident racism against those racial groups or, the opposite, against the disadvantaged majority group.

David Dinkins former mayor of New York City

David Norman Dinkins is an American politician, lawyer, and author who served as the 106th Mayor of New York City, from 1990 to 1993. He was the first and, to date, the only African American to hold that office.

Stuyvesant Town–Peter Cooper Village Neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City

Stuyvesant Town–Peter Cooper Village is a large, post-World War II private residential development, on the east side of the New York City borough of Manhattan. Stuyvesant Town, known to its residents as "Stuy Town", was named after Peter Stuyvesant, the last director-general of the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam, whose farm occupied the site in the 17th century. Peter Cooper Village is named after the 19th century industrialist, inventor and philanthropist Peter Cooper, who founded Cooper Union. The complex, which was planned beginning in 1942 and opened its first building in 1947, replaced the Gas House district of gas storage tanks.

East New York, Brooklyn Neighborhood of Brooklyn in New York City

East New York is a residential neighborhood in the eastern section of the borough of Brooklyn in New York City, United States. The neighborhood is part of Brooklyn Community District 5, covered by Brooklyn Community Board 5. Its boundaries, starting from the north and moving clockwise are: Cypress Hills Cemetery to the north, the Borough of Queens to the east, Jamaica Bay to the south, and the Bay Ridge Branch railway tracks next to Van Sinderen Avenue to the west. Linden Boulevard and Atlantic Avenue are the primary thoroughfares through East New York. Its ZIP Codes include 11207, 11208, and 11239. The area is patrolled by the 75th Precinct located at 1000 Sutter Avenue. New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) property in the area is patrolled by P.S.A. 2. During the latter part of the twentieth century, East New York came to be predominantly inhabited by African Americans and Latinos.

Bruce Ratner is an American philanthropist, real estate developer, and former minority owner of the NBA's Brooklyn Nets.

Pacific Park, Brooklyn

Pacific Park is a mixed-use commercial and residential development project that will consist of 17 high-rise buildings, under construction in Prospect Heights, adjacent to Downtown Brooklyn and Fort Greene in Brooklyn, New York City. The project overlaps part of the Atlantic Terminal Urban Renewal Area, but also extends toward the adjacent brownstone neighborhood. Of the 22-acre (8.9 ha) project, 8.4 acres (3.4 ha) is located over a Long Island Rail Road train yard. A major component of the project is the Barclays Center sports arena, which opened on September 21, 2012. Formerly named Atlantic Yards, the developer renamed the project in August 2014 as part of a rebranding.

New York City Housing Authority

The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) provides housing for low- and moderate-income residents throughout the five boroughs of New York City. NYCHA also administers a citywide Section 8 Leased Housing Program in rental apartments. These communities are often referred to in popular culture as "projects", or "developments". These facilities commonly have large income disparities with their respective surrounding neighborhood or community.

Daniel Garodnick American politician

Daniel Garodnick is an American lawyer and a former Democratic New York City Councilmember. He is the president and chief executive officer of the Riverside Park Conservancy.

Tishman Speyer Properties is an American company that invests in real estate.

Nicholas Garaufis United States District Judge

Nicholas George Garaufis is a Senior United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

Clipper Equity LLC is a partnership led by David Bistricer and Sam Levinson. The firm owns more than 60 buildings, with thousands of residential units, in New York and New Jersey. The partnership are known for their attempted purchase of 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. New York's Mayor Michael Bloomberg expressed concerns over the new landlord's history of building violations.

Will Maslow American activist

Will Maslow was an American lawyer and civil rights leader who fought for full equality in a free society for Jews, blacks, and other minorities at positions he held in government and as an executive of the American Jewish Congress.

Domino Sugar Refinery

The Domino Sugar Refinery is a former refinery in the neighborhood of Williamsburg in Brooklyn, New York City. It was the original refinery of the American Sugar Refining Company, which produced Domino brand sugar. The current complex dates from 1882, when it was the largest sugar refinery in the world. Refining operations stopped in 2004, and as of 2017 the property is under redevelopment as office space, residential towers, and parkland. Several of the buildings in the complex were given landmark status in 2007.

Gateway Center (Brooklyn)

Gateway Center, also referred to as Gateway Plaza Mall or simply Gateway Mall, is a shopping complex in the Spring Creek section of East New York, Brooklyn, in New York City. It is located just north of the Belt Parkway at Erskine Street and Gateway Drive, which is near portions of the Gateway National Recreation Area. Built as part of the Gateway Estates plan for commercial and retail development, it consists of two structures: the original structure opened in 2002, and a second adjacent development opened in 2014.

Daniel Rose is an American real estate developer, philanthropist and essayist. He is best known professionally for developing the large-scale Pentagon City complex adjacent to Reagan National Airport; building the One Financial Center office tower that anchored the redevelopment of downtown Boston; and conceiving and reinventing a New York real estate apartment complex into the internationally renowned Manhattan Plaza for the Performing Arts. A forceful advocate for private philanthropy and public service, he founded the acclaimed innner-city youth education program, the Harlem Educational Activities Fund, established a wide range of academic and professional educational programs, and served multiple government administrations in unpaid advisory roles. His award-winning essays and speeches have covered subjects as diverse as economics, inner city education, racial problems, social injustice, real estate, food & wine, and housing.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Kenneth T. Jackson; Lisa Keller; Nancy Flood (1 December 2010). The Encyclopedia of New York City: Second Edition. Yale University Press. p. 1223. ISBN   978-0-300-18257-6.
  2. ↑ AKRF, Inc., Eng-Wong Taub & Associates, Langan Engineering and Environmental Services, Inc. (February 4, 2009). "FINAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT for GATEWAY ESTATES II". nyc.gov . New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development . Retrieved November 16, 2015.
  3. ↑ U.S. v. Starrett City Associates
  4. ↑ United States Department of Justice, Supreme Court Brief No. 88-82
  5. ↑ Finder, Alan (1990-07-24). "Brooklyn Landlord, To Keep Racial Mix, Looks to Soviet Jews". The New York Times. Retrieved 2018-07-08.
  6. ↑ "NY State Housing Chief Rejects New Starrett City Bid". The China Post . Associated Press. April 8, 2007. Retrieved September 2, 2010.
  7. ↑
  8. ↑ Bagli, Charles V. (June 2, 2008). "In New Sale, Starrett City Would Stay Affordable". The New York Times . Retrieved September 2, 2010.
  9. ↑ Bagli, Charles V. (2017-09-06). "Sale of Brooklyn Housing Complex Would Benefit Trump". The New York Times. Retrieved 2018-07-08.
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