Starrett City

Housing development in Brooklyn, New York

Starrett City (formally known as the Spring Creek Towers) 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. Plans for developing the site of Starrett City date to 1962, when an investment group bought the property with the intention of developing a residential complex called Park Shore Village. The group ultimately withdrew from the project, and another cooperative housing project named Twin Pines Village was proposed by the United Housing Foundation in 1967. Control of the complex was handed to Starrett City Associates in 1971, and Starrett City opened in 1974. The complex assumed the name of Spring Creek Towers in 2002, though it is still popularly known as Starrett City. Starrett City is part of Brooklyn Community District 5, and its primary ZIP Code is 11239.

The Spring Creek Towers site (commonly known as Starrett City) 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. The development is bound to the north by Flatlands Avenue and to the south by Seaview Avenue and the Shore Parkway section of the Belt Parkway system. Pennsylvania Avenue runs north to south through the complex, with Louisiana Avenue at the west end and Van Siclen Avenue at the east end. The housing development contains 5,881 apartment units in 46 buildings, which range from 11 to 20 stories high. The development was designed by Herman Jessor, organized in the towers in the park layout. The buildings utilize a simple "foursquare" design. The residential part of Starrett City includes eight parking garages, a community center, and two public schools. Starrett City is said to be the largest federally assisted rental property in the United States. The power plant opened in 1973 and provides electricity, heating, cooling, and hot water to all residents of Starrett City. It is self sufficient enough that during the 1977 New York City blackout, the complex was able to provide its own power. There is a sewage treatment plant next to the cogeneration facility, called the 26th Ward Wastewater Treatment Plant. The treatment plant, located on a plot, can filter up to per day from the sewage systems in Brownsville, Canarsie, and East New York. The treatment plant and cogeneration facility were formerly operationally separate. However, in 1982, the city government began giving the treatment plant's methane emissions and thousands of gallons of treated cold water to the cogeneration facility, in exchange for hot water from the cogen facility. At the southeast corner of the complex on Van Siclen Avenue is the complex's community and recreation center, which opened in 1978 It is home to many world champion boxers, including Zab Judah, Shannon Briggs, Dmitriy Salita, Luis Collazo, and Will Rosinsky.

Starrett City is patrolled by the New York City Police Department's 75th Precinct, though primary security is assumed by its own private security force, called the Spring Creek Towers Department of Public Safety. The Spring Creek Towers security force was created because, when Starrett City opened in the 1970s, the 75th Precinct had one of the highest crime rates in New York City. The Spring Creek Towers Department of Public Safety employs public safety officers, armed while on duty, 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 officers 24 hours a day on foot, bicycles, or in vehicles.

The complex is owned by Starrett City Associates, which was originally headed by Disque Deane.

When it opened, Starrett City was advertised as having convenient transportation links to the rest of the city via bus and subway.

In 1962, a California based investment group purchased of land along Pennsylvania Avenue between Flatlands Avenue and the Belt Parkway, intending to construct apartments on the property. The Thompson–Starrett Co. was retained to construct the buildings. In March 1964, the investment group applied to the New York State Housing Finance Agency for a mortgage worth $145 million towards the development. At the time, the site was referred to as part of Canarsie. On December 1, 1964, the State Housing Finance Agency announced a project called Park Shore Village, which would construct a middle income apartment complex on the site. The complex would consist of 19 buildings standing 11, 17 and 21 stories high. It would also include a shopping center, community center, swimming pools, and a skating rink, along with a new elementary school (PS 346) and parking for residents. Funds would be provided by loans under the Mitchell Lama Housing Program. and by the New York City Board of Estimate on February 11, 1965. Construction on the first phase was projected to start in the spring of that year and be complete by 1967, at which point the second phase would begin. However, the original investment group withdrew due to financial concerns and the project did not commence. On June 27, 1967, Governor Nelson Rockefeller announced modified version of the project called Twin Pines Village, which would construct a cooperative on the site in what was then part of Canarsie. The development would house 6,000 families. The project was now sponsored by the United Housing Foundation (UHF), who were also developing Co op City. Twin Pines would consist of 43 buildings, rising 11, 15, or 21 stories. Like the Park Shore plan, the development would also contain a shopping complex, community center and schools, and would sit across a portion of present day Spring Creek Park which was then being developed as the Fountain Avenue Landfill (which has now been re developed as Shirley Chisholm State Park). It was proclaimed as the "largest co op ever built in Brooklyn", and would be the second largest in the city behind Co op City, with a size comparable to that of Rochdale Village. The UHF abandoned the project in March 1971 after running out of money. At the time, construction had begun at the north end of the complex. Following the exit of the UHF, the project was sold to a new group of investors, including Disque Deane and Lazard Frères along with around 200 other individuals. This group would become the Starrett City Associates. Workers started constructing towers at the south end of the site by the Belt Parkway, in an effort to attract potential tenants who were exiting from the Belt Parkway. This added one million dollars to the cost of construction, since utilities had been laid at the north end. That year, real estate developer Fred Trump acquired a 20 percent interest in the development. The Starrett Associates invested $22 million into the construction of the complex, while the remaining $360 million was covered by state housing loans under the Mitchell Lama program. As part of the opening, a minibus service was created to transport local residents within the development, and to shopping centers in other parts of Brooklyn. In addition, the express bus service to Manhattan was extended from Canarsie to Starrett City. At the time of opening, none of the complex's proposed 18,000 trees had been planted. Pennsylvania Avenue was reopened to traffic that December, sparking protests by residents who had previously used the street to play. A swimming and tennis club on Van Siclen Avenue was dedicated in July 1978. Families who lived in the complex had to pay $250 per year to use the swimming and tennis club. By 1981, the presence of Starrett City was credited with spurring six other developments in the neighborhood, including a shopping mall at Flatlands and Louisiana Avenues, as well as five housing developments. Crime in the complex was lower than in the surrounding neighborhoods, primarily because of the presence of a private security force. On the other hand, rents at Starrett City started to rise by the late 1970s, leading to fears that existing middle class residents might leave and be replaced by low income residents. In 1980, a New York State Comptroller's report found that Starrett City would have a nearly $30 million deficit by 1984, and that rents would have to be doubled from the then current rates in order to make up for the deficit. By 1992, Starrett City Associates was developing additional housing around the Starrett City complex. The new housing units were condominiums, targeted toward Starrett City residents and others who wanted ownership of their homes. In 1993, the Amalgamated Bank of New York loaned $1.5 million for repairs to Starrett at Spring Creek. The complex was renamed "Starrett at Spring Creek" around 1989. On September 25, 2002, the complex was again renamed "Spring Creek Towers". The second renaming was part of a $70 million capital program to renovate the complex. The plans called for Spring Creek Towers to receive two new parks, as well as new elevators, laundry rooms, windows, and lighting.

On November 30, 2006, Starrett City Associates 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, which brokered the Stuyvesant Town–Peter Cooper Village 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. On February 8, 2007, Starrett City Associates agreed to sell the sprawling complex to David Bistricer's Clipper Equity LLC for $1.3 billion. Although Clipper Equity insisted that the complex would remain affordable, housing advocates and politicians expressed concerns about Clipper Equity's intentions. In response to HUD's rejection of the deal, Clipper Equity proposed a new bid, which included reducing operating expenses and redeveloping part of the land into new housing. Clipper Equity took other steps to garner support, including receiving informal backing from influential ministers Rev. Calvin O. Butts and Rev. A. R. Bernard. On April 7, 2007, the second proposal was also rejected by the U. S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, on the basis that Clipper Equity'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 affordable. Nevertheless, Clipper Equity made another attempt in August 2007. In September 2017, The New York Times reported that the complex was being sold to the Brooksville Company and Rockpoint Group for $850 million. At the time, Donald Trump owned a 4 percent share, while other members of his family owned an additional 16 percent. However, disagreements soon developed between two groups affiliated with Disque Deane, who had died in 2010 and left his estate to his third wife Carol G. Deane and their two children. Carol, who managed Starrett City Associates following Disque's death. became involved in a lawsuit with a collective that included four of Disque's children; one of his former partners; and LIHC Investment Group and Belveron Partners, who were also interested in purchasing the complex. The two groups sued each other in New York Supreme Court over allegations that Carol's sale of Starrett City to Brooksville and Rockpoint did not maximize profits for shareholders. The lawsuit was later dismissed, and the sale of Starrett City was finalized on May 8, 2018, at a cost of $905 million. A group of anonymous investors sold a 71 percent stake to Brooksville and Rockpoint for $1.8 billion in August 2021. The next month, Brooksville and Rockpoint acquired full ownership of the complex after acquiring Belveron Partners' 13 percent stake.

Starrett City is a racially diverse neighborhood. The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 24.7% (3,293) White, 52.7% (7,036) African American, 0.2% (29) Native American, 2.9% (389) Asian, 0% (2) Pacific Islander, 0.3% (37) from other races, and 1.4% (184) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 17.9% (2,384) of the population.

As of the 2020 United States census, Black Americans (primarily African Americans) were about 60% of the area's population, White and Hispanic Americans each comprised around 20%, and Asian residents consisted of about 2 3% of the area's population.

Since its opening in 1974, Starrett City filled vacancies under an alleged affirmative action racial formula in which 70 percent of vacant apartments went to non Hispanic white families, and the remaining 30 percent went to minority families. In 1979, the NAACP initiated a class action suit against Starrett City Associates. An agreement was made in May 1984. Starrett City Associates agreed to increase the minority quota by 5 percent, so that the ratio of non Hispanic white to minority families was 65 to 35 percent. The formula was supported by many black and Hispanic residents and some civil rights groups. In June 1984, the Reagan administration sued Starrett City over the racial quota system, stating that it violated federal anti discrimination laws. The original accord was approved by federal judge Edward Raymond Neaher of the U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York in April 1985, but the ruling did not affect the Reagan administration's lawsuit. In 1987, Neaher ruled on the federal government's lawsuit, stating that the quotas violated the Civil Rights Act of 1968 and thereby invalidating the quotas. In March 1988, a panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled two to one that the lower court's order to prevent quotas must stand. The Supreme Court declined to review the case in 1988. By then, under Starrett City Associates' quota system, 62 percent of apartments were rented to whites, 23 percent to blacks, 9 percent to Hispanics and 6 percent to other minority groups. In July 1990, Starrett City Associates proposed to make apartments available to Soviet Jews who came to the United States in order to maintain racial diversity. However, critics stated that this was a move to circumvent the judicial ruling. Starrett City Associates rescinded their proposal to rent to Soviet Jews after heavy criticism. New York State instead housed the Soviet Jewish families in Co op City, a similar development in the Bronx.