Starrett City refinancing finalized, complex to stay affordable for 30 years

Brooklyn’s Starrett City, the largest publicly assisted affordable housing complex in the country, will remain affordable under the state’s Mitchell-Lama affordable housing program for the next 30 years, the State Housing Commissioner has announced. The extension, finalized this week, was made possible by new state legislation signed this summer, allowing the complex’s owners to refinance their mortgages on the buildings if they allocate $40 million of the proceeds from that plan to a capital improvement program. Starrett City’s owners had planned to sell the complex for $1.3 billion two years ago, but the sale was blocked by the state out of concern that the new owners would not be able to keep the units affordable after paying the steep price.