U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

Friday morning's New York Times seemed to suggest that David Bistricer's (and Bruce Teitelbaum's) second bid for Starrett City might have a chance. Indeed, it was all about how Mr. Bistricer was enlisting the help of ministers to take his case to the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, which holds the mortgage to the housing complex and was the entity that doomed the first bid.

But a letter last night from the state Department of Housing Conservation and Renewal (DHCR) may have killed the plan first. Commissioner Deborah VanAmerongen wrote that the plan "would be unworkable under existing statutory law... For these reasons we must disapprove the plan."

"We read it - and more importantly, we understand that DHCR reads it - to mean that HUD or no HUD - the elements of the deal that require state approval will not be forthcoming - hence dead," Jonathan Rosen, a spokesman for the affordable housing advocacy group ACORN, said in an e-mail.

The DHCR letter says that the new plan would have raised rents to "street rents" and caused "the divestiture of all potentially income-producing non-residential property."

The Real Estate is waiting for a return call from Mr. Bistricer's spokesman.

The Times' Empire Zone blog has more on whether the proposal is dead or not here.

- Matthew Schuerman

• Clipper to submit new Starrett City plan to HUD.
[NY Post]
• Spitzer meets with Bloomberg over Javits expansion.
[NY Post]
• Trump wants Tavern on the Green; says "it's over."
[NY Post]
• 51 Astor Place going on the market.
[NY Post]
• New York magazine to ink move to Hudson Square.
[NY Post]
• Silverstein lashes out at trade-center insurers.
[NY Sun]
• Subprime-mortgage giant to go bankrupt.
[NY Sun]
• High-rise apartments rezoning along Harlem River.
[Daily News]

Did we miss any New York City real estate news this morning? Please send along tips and links.

• 0 comments

Last week, no less than one Cabinet secretary, two Congressmen and two Senators vociferously and publicly chastized the $1.3 billion buy of Starrett City in eastern Brooklyn. Clipper Equity won the bidding in early February, prompting many to ask: How could the landlords ever turn a profit by keeping the apartment complex affordable?

Sen. Chuck Schumer was among those answering the question quickly last week, calling on the Department of Housing and Urban Development to nix the deal should Clipper not promise to keep the apartments cheap.

On Thursday, the Senator upped the ante:

Today U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer demanded Starrett Associates go back to square one on the Starrett City sale. The Senator, who is chair of the Senate Housing sub-committee said today that the bid process was fatally flawed, having excluded the federal government, which has subsidized Starrett City for years so that it could maintain its affordability. Schumer noted that the Department of Housing and Urban Development has the right to approve the deal, and has expressed deep skepticism due to the potential of massive loss of affordable housing stock.

- Tom Acitelli

Did those poor (rich) guys at Clipper Equity know what they were getting themselves into? Even George W. Bush is piling on. The press office for U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Alphonso Jackson is e-mailing the following statement on Starrett City:

"This transaction has the potential to threaten New York City's low-income housing market and those who need it. Starrett City is more than a piece of land--it is a community. As secretary of Housing and Urban Development, I will aggressively review this sale and give it close scrutiny."

UPDATE: A little after 8 p.m. on Monday, Sen. Hillary Clinton's office emailed The Real Estate that New York's junior Senator also wanted an aggressive HUD review of the Starrett City sale:

"HUD has a responsibility to approve or disapprove of the transfer of property like this... I remain extremely concerned that the outcome of this sale will be increased rents, forcing many people out of their homes."

- Matthew Schuerman

Sen. Chuck Schumer has joined a suddenly growing chorus of critics who think Starrett City's days as a bastion of affordable housing are decidedly numbered. The senior New York Senator said on Monday that new owner Clipper Equity, which offered $1.3 billion last week for the Brooklyn complex, will have to evict thousands of tenants and move units to market-rate. Otherwise, the numbers for the landlord won't add up to profitability. Mr. Schumer called on the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development to block the deal unless Clipper agreed to keep Starrett affordable:

"Experts across the board agree: it will be impossible for someone paying this price not to convert the units into high-price rentals or ritzy condominiums. Without question, a sale at this price will change the character of Starrett forever."

Full release from the Senator's office after the jump.  read more »

UPDATE: Clipper Equity emailed The Real Estate this statement on Monday afternoon:

We have today met with various City, State and Federal officials and elected representatives regarding the future of Starrett City. There is unanimity on the part of all that it is crucial to protect long-term affordability at the 5,881-apartment development. We understand this must be achieved and we are confident this can be achieved. Our meetings were informative and productive and we look forward to further discussions regarding the specific mechanisms that will enable us to fulfill our mutual goal.

- Tom Acitelli

Later this morning, Eliot Spitzer and Andrew Cuomo will be discussing Cuomo's transition into the attorney general's office.

In addition to whatever process issues they'll be talking about, I'm wondering if they might touch on a couple of outstanding policy matters, including the question of how Cuomo will handle the pesticide lawsuit Spitzer filed against HUD that includes the years Cuomo led that agency, and where exactly Cuomo stands on the tough Sarbanes-Oxley rules on corporate accountability that Spitzer doesn't want weakened, but people like Chuck Schumer and Mike Bloomberg say could harm the city's ability to attract businesses.

If anyone else has any information (or educated guesses) about what's going to be on the agenda, let us know.

-- Azi Paybarah

This doesn't sounds like the Republican Party's rebuilding is on the right path.

Former congressman Bob Ney said he lobbied incoming RNC Chairman Mel Martinez when he was the federal secretary for HUD.

According to Josh Marshall's sister site, TPM Muckraker:

"Just two months after he left HUD in order to make a run for the Senate in early 2004, his campaign netted $250,000 from a fundraiser co-chaired by Abramoff."

-- Azi Paybarah

Now that Andrew Cuomo is moving into Eliot Spitzer's old office, he is inheriting a number of Spitzer's high-profile cases.

Today, the Post noted Cuomo is picking up where Spitzer left off in the lawsuit against Dick Grasso for his huge compensation package from the New York Stock Exchange.

"No one's backing down on this one," said one party familiar with the case.

But among the thousands of cases Cuomo inherited from Spitzer is one in which Cuomo is one of the defendants.

As Mark Green revealed during a televised debate, the AG's office filed a lawsuit against HUD for not enforcing federal pesticide restrictions. The lawsuit was filed after Cuomo left HUD but includes the years while he was there.

It wasn't much of a vote-getter for Green, but a lawsuit is still a lawsuit.

So what will happen with that case?

"Andrew is reviewing pending cases and it would be inappropriate for him to comment on ongoing cases and matters in the AGs office at this time," his spokeswoman Wendy Katz told me via email.

Update: An informed reader notes that HUD and Secretary Alphonso Jackson are the people named as defendants in the lawsuit. But it does cover the years when Cuomo led the agency, which makes his prosecution of the case so interesting. -- Azi Paybarah

A reader noted that the massive Times story today about the troubled loan program that HUD offered while Andrew Cuomo was in charge wasn't much of a timely piece of news. Much of the original reporting on this had hit newspapers around the time Cuomo ran for governor...in 2002.

But the issue got major play today - 2,000 words! - after the paper endorsed him (albeit reluctantly).

Which makes you wonder how New York Times readers are going to vote in this race if the editorial page is supporting Cuomo, and news pages are providing reasons not to.

-- Azi Paybarah

The Public Advocate just repaid the city four years' worth of reimbursements for using a city employee as a chauffeur.

The Times takes a look at a loan program plagued with fraud while Andrew Cuomo was HUD secretary.

Spitzer wants to boost the level of school aid the city gets from the state. John Faso doesn't.

Right when he took office, the State Comptroller steered a no-bid contract to a former employee who worked on his campaign.

Coop says that Faso's focus on the Hevesi chauffeur stuff was a tactical blunder.

Christopher Callaghan said his personal investments are "not extensive."

Cuomo said his opponent in the attorney general's race should repay taxpayers the more than $100,000 her state-employed driver earned in overtime.

Ray Hernandez looks at Chris Shays to illustrate the challenges faced by moderate Republicans in the Northeast.

The wife of an upstate Republican congressman who had previously called 911 from their home said yesterday, "At no time did I need to be protected..."

Robert DeNiro is making automated telephone calls for Hillary Clinton.

The Staten Island Advance endorses Hillary, saying "it almost doesn't matter who is running against her..."

A CNN poll shows Barack Obama second only to Hillary for the Democratic nomination in 2008; Rudy Giuiliani and John McCain are in a statistical dead heat.

-- Azi Paybarah

That's Jeanine Pirro at the Andrew Cuomo trail, which her campaign said proves Cuomo misused funds while he was the federal housing secretary.

From Team Pirro:

"In August 2000, Holley, New York, opened the Andrew Cuomo Canalway Trail, built from a $1 million HUD grant under the Canal Corridor Initiative. The trail is only 100 yards long. Two 5-foot-tall Medina sandstone monuments inscribed with his name mark the entrance; the monuments alone costs federal taxpayers $4200 each."

It's not exactly a novel line of attack, but maybe the Pirro people figure that if you say things often enough, people will start to listen.  read more »

-- Azi Paybarah

The City Council and the New York Blood Center host a blood drive at City Hall.

HUD announces grants for New York and New Jersey organizations at the HELP Genesis RJK Apartments on East 13th Street.

Michael Chertoff keynotes the Federal Law Enforcement Foundation's 16th Annual Luncheon at the Waldorf-Astoria.

The Muslim Public Affairs Council Foundation presents its Human Security Award to Mohammed Elbaradei at the Reception House in Flushing, Queens.

—Nicole Brydson

The MTA board meet at their headquarters.

HUD recognizes agencies for their outstanding performance at the New York Hall of Science in Queens. Sarah Jessica Parker, now a UNICEF Ambassador, hosts a Halloween Party at the UNICEF House. The Public Service Commission holds a public hearing on the Long Island City power outages at the Hellenic Center in Astoria.

The Stonewall Democrats hold their monthly meeting at the LGBT Center featuring Alan Van Capelle and Hank Sheinkopf.

DL21C and NYU Law School Democrats host "Blogs and Politics: A Critical Look at New York's Political New Media Landscape."

Public housing tenants protest vacancies and mismanaged elevator repairs in Fort Greene, Brooklyn.

A forum on new voting technology will be held at the New York Society for Ethical Culture.

Russell Simmons and Rabbi Marc Schneier lead a panel discussion on black and Jewish race relations at Columbia University.

Nita Lowey addresses a summit on hunger and homelessness at the Generoso Pope Foundation in Tuckahoe.

Nick Spano and Vincent Leibell discuss Internet safety laws at the offices of Westchester District Attorney Jane DiFiore.

—Nicole Brydson

Andrew Cuomo is pulling out all the stops to fend off the challenges on the credibility of his public record.

Yesterday, Cuomo was endorsed by the attorney general from Connecticut, who was involved in the lawsuit over HUD's failure to enforce pesticide regulations when Cuomo led the agency. Then, Cuomo's team released a letter from Manhattan DA Robert Morgenthau thanking Cuomo for his "three years of public service..." (A Cuomo aide notes that those three years weren't all in Morgenthau's office, but rather referred to time Cuomo also worked for his father, the newly elected governor.)

Today, Cuomo announced he was endorsed by the New York League of Conservation Voters and is trotting out Ed Koch at an event tomorrow later today in order, basically, to endorse Cuomo again.

-- Azi Paybarah

The CT state attorney general who sued HUD endorsed and defended Andrew Cuomo today. The video is here.

Also endorsing Cuomo today is The Jewish Press, which weighed in on Eliot Spitzer and Hillary Clinton's races.

Mark Green was endorsed by DFNYC.org.

Jesse Jackson Jr. is planning to run for mayor of Chicago.

Michael Cooper enjoyed The Onions fake news report about "the newly completed 9/11 Memorial Hole."

Hotline notes that Joe Lieberman's new website and blog went online yesterday. Today, FaithfulDemocrats.com went live. Hmmmm.

For some reason, a lot of smart women turned down the chance to blog for The New Republic.  read more »

And the photo of the mailing above is not from state senator Martin Connor. It's from his opponent, Ken Diamondstone.

-- Azi Paybarah

This just in from Horowitz from the New York Law Journal AG debate at the city bar association offices on West 43rd Street:

After 45 minutes of mostly substantive debate between Mark Green, Andrew Cuomo and Sean Patrick Maloney, the forum devolved into a shouting match with a familiar dynamic: Green attacks Cuomo's public record, Cuomo attacks Green's attacks.

During the first part of the debate, the candidates talked about everything from the merits of MySpace to enforcement of the environmental code.

But the personal hostility between Green and Cuomo, who sat next to each other, came out during the closing remarks, which Green used as an opportunity to call into question Cuomo's record fighting housing discrimination at HUD, to bring up a lawsuit by Eliot Spitzer against HUD over the use of pesticides in federally funded housing, and to keep Cuomo under pressure over yesterday's Village Voice story on his profitable relationship with Andrew Farkas.

Cuomo asked for an extra minute to respond, during which he went after Green for being a frequent candidate and for waging damaging negative campaigns.

Green visibly flipped out, dipping repeatedly back into his chair to make eye contact with the helpless moderators to beg for time to respond to the response.

Green got his time, sort of, but it turned into a two-way argument over Green's negativity during which the candidates talked over each other and Green actually tried to shush Cuomo.

There was at least one substantive question that showed a difference between the candidates: a theoretical proposition asking whether an attorney general should prosecute cases he believes to be either unconstitutional or immoral. Cuomo and Maloney said that the AG has to do the job even when it conflicts with personally held opinion. Green effectively said that the AG had the right to refrain.

-- Josh Benson

Andrew Cuomo might not have read Wayne Barrett's tome on Cuomo' relationship with real estate magnate Andrew Farkas, but we were reminded that our own Anna Schneider-Mayerson spoke with both Cuomo and Farkas back in June.

The former HUD secretary sued Farkas for diverting federal funds to management instead of housing maintenance-- and then went on to work for Farkas and accept campaign contributions from him. According to Barrett, Farkas still considers Cuomo's suit a mistake. "Andrew was wrong," Farkas claimed.

But according to the notes Anna kindly passed on, the two seem to hold each other in the highest regard. Cuomo explained their beginnings thusly:

"He's (Farkas) just a good friend and he started a new company and I was doing the things that I was doing and he was ...he said 'do you want to come with me you know a little about real estate development.'"

Farkas, for his part, was sad to see Cuomo return to politics.

"I will miss him personally," said Farkas, adding "He made tremendous contributions while he was here and they were all additive."

-- Jason Horowitz

This seems hard to believe, but here's Andrew Cuomo's response this afternoon to my question about the Times endorsement of Mark Green:

"I didn't read the editorial yet, so I'm at a loss."

It hit the doorsteps of New York Times subscribers yesterday and was the topic of conversation all day over here.

"Perhaps he's on a mission to Mars," Green said when told of Cuomo's remarks an hour and a half later at his press conference about - what else - that Times endorsement.

In it, the paper noted:

As he left HUD, Mr. Cuomo's operation produced a 150-page report of his accomplishments that included a CD and pictures of the secretary with celebrities like Sarah Jessica Parker. It cost the taxpayers a whopping $688,000 to produce what amounted to future campaign fodder.

"I don't know what they were referring to. I can check and Wendy can get back to you," Cuomo told me, referring to his spokeswoman, Wendy Katz.

She emailed around 3 p.m. to say:

"The report documents the more than 100 programs at HUD and was funded from the official budget congress allocates to the federal agency for the purpose of publishing reports on the agency's programs."

When asked if he read the endorsement by then, Katz said he was campaigning in Brooklyn and wasn't with him.

-- Azi Paybarah

Andrew Cuomo has a new 30-second ad going statewide. In this one, we see the kinder, gentler Cuomo.

You don't start off in the trenches of Morgenthau's legendary DAs office for the money. You don't take a job fixing America's most troubled federal agency fighting bigots and predatory banks and gun dealers for a pat on the back even when it's from the President who personally appointed you.

You do it for the satisfaction of doing what's right getting justice for those who need it.

That's it. But for some of us that's everything.

It's similar to his previous ads (HUD, Clinton, gun dealers) but this has softer music and little less Spitzer. Although, it does kind of feel like a Spitzer ad.

-- Azi Paybarah

Andrew Cuomo's team announced today they were endorsed by Citizens Union.

This could be an important tool for Cuomo, who's been on the receiving end of Mark Green's comparison campaign and attacked by Jeanine Pirro as being unqualified.

Interestingly, in announcing their preferences [full statement after the jump], the group says:

"Citizens Union was also pleased to see Cuomo stress the need to partner with local district attorneys in addressing systemic enforcement issues such as Medicaid fraud ... "

When Cuomo mentioned this idea during the NY1 debate, Green was quick to call it a bad idea.  read more »

Update: C.U.'s kind words for Mark Green, Sean Maloney and Charlie King are after the jump, and in their press release. -- Azi Paybarah

Here's a little more info about the lawsuit Eliot Spitzer filed against HUD, something Mark Green threw at Andrew Cuomo's during last night's debate:

Eliot Spitzer and ten other state attorney generals filed the lawsuit against HUD in 2003, but, according to Green, it cited HUD inaction dating back to 1996 - years that include Cuomo's tenure at the agency. The press release, which doesn't cite any years, is here.

It says that despite a federal law, "HUD currently does not require housing authorities to use Integrated Pest Management when dealing with pest control issues at HUD-funded developments. The petition asks HUD to require housing authorities to use Integrated Pest Management, a proven method of pest control that eliminates pests while reducing the use of toxic pesticides."

The legal action came a year after Spitzer published a report on pesticides in New York public housing.

The second-to-last paragraph of that 2003 press release notes: "Since the report was released, these housing authorities have agreed to develop and implement Integrated Pest Management programs to effectively control pests while reducing the potential for toxic exposures of children and other residents."

We'll be happy to leave it to you to tell us how significant any of this is going to be in the context of the campaign.

-- Azi Paybarah

The game between Mark Green and Andrew Cuomo goes like this. Green goes after Cuomo's record as HUD secretary under President Clinton, and Cuomo's people say that Green is attacking because he's embittered and spiteful.

Yesterday, Cuomo's spokeswoman even sent a letter to television stations asking them not to run Green's television ads.

So what's an attack and what's a legitimate critique?

I asked Andrew Cuomo that today, after he picked up an endorsement from the City Comptroller.

"This is America, you can talk about anything you want to talk about. It would be nice if he were accurate. But everybody runs their own campaign and I'll run mine."

Okay then!

The game continues at tonight's televised town hall and picks up again at the AG's debate tomorrow night.  read more »

-- Azi Paybarah

Andrew Cuomo wants kids to smoke! That was basically the message coming out of Mark Green's "Comparison Countdown #19" press conference this morning in his campaign headquarters.

Green, standing in front of a "Kick Butts Day" cartoon drawn by Gary Trudeau in his mostly empty campaign headquarters, he accused Cuomo of facilitating underage smoking during his time as HUD secretary by directing tax dollars toward the construction of smoke shops on Indian reservations.

"I am of course pleased that President Clinton acknowledged my leadership on the issue of Kick butts Day," Green said. "Allow me to contrast that. While I was in New York fighting tobacco sales to children, Andrew Cuomo was in Washington DC subsidizing tobacco sales on Indian Reservations." He went on to point out that children often have access to these smoke shops.

Today's event coincides with Green's latest ad, which features a woman talking about Cuomo and the smoke shops and ending on the slogan, "Mark Green for Attorney General -- Case Closed."  read more »

Not clear how many kids are leaving the 7-11 parking lot for Poospatuck, or how much traction these daily-ish, pre-scheduled attacks on Cuomo are going to get. But, apparently, Green's got 18 more of them.

--Jason Horowitz

Today, Andrew Cuomo and Mark Green have something in common: they're both focusing on Andrew Cuomo's record at HUD. Here is Andrew Cuomo's new commercial - airing, according to the campaign, in "major media markets" - which talks in part about how, as part of "Bill Clinton's cabinet, he brought integrity and reforms to a troubled agency, targeting fraud and abuse." (Not incidentally, the spot also includes a picture of Cuomo looking perfectly happy next to Eliot Spitzer.)

And here's what appears to a length rebuttal released by the Green campaign as part of the launch of his self-labeled "comparison campaign" with Cuomo's "mismanagement and mediocrity" as housing secretary. The campaign-within-a-campaign to tear down Cuomo's public record began today with Green standing outside a battered old building in Harlem and calling his opponent's resume a "fiasco" and an "embarrassment." (Full, long, release after the jump.)

This is not an entirely surprising development. Green needs to make up ground. Cuomo, presumably, has decided that he's happy where he is.

But for the purposes of determining its impact on the AG race - and leaving aside, for the moment, the more difficult job of fairly assessing the substance of it - whose version is more believable?  read more »

-- Josh Benson UPDATE: From Wendy Katz at the Cuomo campaign:

"We will leave it to the voters to decide whom to believe about Andrew's record of results---the mean attacks of the perennial politician or the words of President Bill Clinton: 'During your four years as Secretary, you led one of the most dramatic and successful reforms of a federal agency in modern U.S. history, with HUD going from the bringk of elimination to the forefront of the struggle for justice in America.'"

For those who are interested, Geraldine Ferraro was kind enough to fill us in this morning's "Women for Andrew Cuomo" breakfast at the Sheraton.

She said it was "amazing to see the number of women who were there," and said that Christine Quinn gave a "dynamite, impassioned" speech on abortion rights.

She also said she was willing to get up early this morning because of the special connection she has to the Cuomo family.

"I've known his family and him since he was a little boy. Matilda Cuomo and I used to sit in a dancing school on Parsons Boulevard watching our daughters."

Fine.

Asked about Mr. Cuomo's actual qualifications for the job he's seeking, she cited his "managerial experience," from HUD, and said that it was no big deal that Mr. Cuomo hasn't practiced law for some time now. Oh, and she took at a shot at her old friend Mark Green.

"I became a lawyer in 1960 and got married two years after and didn't practice until 1974. The law is not something you are going to forget," she said noting that within two years of entering the DA's office she was made bureau chief. In two years I was a bureau chief. Remember at HUD he supervised 350 lawyers. Mark Green hasn't practiced law at all."

—Jason Horowitz UPDATE The Green campaign writes in with a response.

"We think Geraldine Ferraro is far too classy to be used as a campaign attack surrogate, but we'll be glad to march Mark's experience running a consumer law enforcement agency suing hundreds of businesses for fraud, with Andrew's housing efforts. One has a history that fits an Attorney General, the other a history that fits a housing czar. And speaking of the law, why won't Gerry's candidate disclose his clients, taxes and investments, as Richard Brodsky and then Mark Green did?"