05.08.18 - Starrett City, with Trump stake, is sold for $905 million
"The buyer of the 15,000-resident development best known as Starrett City is a joint venture of Brooksville Co. and Rockpoint. They completed the deal Monday after getting approval from state and federal regulators, including the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which is headed by Ben Carson, a Trump appointee. Starrett City 'represents a very stable and safe investment' in the long run, Andrew MacArthur, president of Brooksville, said. 'I view it as akin to a bond.'"
"To secure the approvals, Brooksville and Rockpoint agreed to invest $140 million in capital improvements, including the rebuilding of a power plant on the site, MacArthur said. They also agreed to extend the complex's affordable-housing status, with HUD's Section 8 program remaining in place for an additional 20 years, through 2049. New York state’s Mitchell Lama protections will extend another 15 years, through 2054, MacArthur said."
"'If anything, we received significantly more scrutiny in the HUD process,' he said. 'Civil servants inside of HUD were very focused and understood the type of scrutiny this transaction would receive.'"