Starrett City bid could reach $1.3B

Sources say Berkshire LLC may offer as much as $1.3 billion in a second round of bidding for Brooklyn’s Starrett City, the 5,881-unit affordable housing complex. Initial bids for the complex ranged from $600 million to Berkshire’s offer of over $1 billion; the complex’s owners, Starrett City Associates, told bidders that a second round of offers would be considered. Berkshire’s second round offer of $1.3 billion would likely tower above other bids. Tenant activists are concerned that a super-high price tag would impel the complex’s future owners to raise rents. more [NYT]
Two busloads of Starrett City tenants are traveling to Berkshire Equities’ Brooklyn offices this morning to protest the Berkshire bid and to call on city and state officials to retain the complex’s affordable housing stock. TRD