Clipper Equity
Clipper Equity LLC is a partnership led by David Bistricer and Sam Levinson. The partnership are known for their 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.[1] New York's Mayor Michael Bloomberg has expressed concern over the new landlord's history of building violations.[2]
Starrett City is the largest federally subsidised housing development in the United States.
The State of New York and the Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development also had expressed concerns, and either could block the sale. On March 1, 2007, a US Federal Judge blocked the sale of Starett City to Clipper Equity. According to the Associated Press, Housing Secretary Alphonso Jackson said Clipper Equity, the prospective buyer of the complex, failed to explain how it would remain an affordable community after the proposed $1.3 billion sale.
Banned from conversions: Due to past irregularities, Clipper Equity was banned for life in 1998 from converting apartments to condominiums or co-ops in New York State. Exceptions to this ban are made on an individual project basis. For example, Clipper Equity has been given permission to sell apartments it is renovating in Downtown Brooklyn.