Starrett Corporation, formerly known as Starrett Brothers, Inc. and Starrett Brothers and Eken, is a real estate development and construction firm known for having built the

Empire State Building The Empire State Building is a 102-story, Art Deco-style supertall skyscraper in the Midtown South neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, United States. The building was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon and built from 1930 to 1931. Its n ...

, Stuyvesant Town, Starrett City and

Trump Tower Trump Tower is a 58-story, mixed-use condominium skyscraper at 721–725 Fifth Avenue in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, between East 56th and 57th Streets. The building contains the headquarters for the Trump Organiza ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

History

Founded in and incorporated in

Dover, Delaware Dover ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and the List of municipalities in Delaware, second-most populous city of the U.S. state of Delaware. It is also the county seat of Kent County, Delaware, Kent County and the princ ...

, in February 1929, the company's initial capitalization was 1,500,000 shares of stock of no par value. Incorporators were Alfred G. Mueller, Alfred W. Boser, and Atlee W. Estarbrook, of

. With its subsidiaries the business had a total capitalization of approximately $40,000,000. Starrett Corporation acquired all of the

capital stock In economics, capital goods or capital are "those durable produced goods that are in turn used as productive inputs for further production" of goods and services. A typical example is the machinery used in a factory. At the macroeconomic level, ...

of Starrett Brothers, a building company. Starrett Corporation was involved in construction and financing of buildings in the major urban centers of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Paul Starrett became chairman of the board and William A. Starrett served as president and a director. In 1963, Robert Olnick became president and shifted the focus to building low and middle income housing which did not require financing as they were funded by the government.Funding Universe: Starrett Corporation"
retrieved May 26, 2017 In 1970, Henry Benach purchased a quarter of the company's stock and became president. He renamed the company Starrett Housing Corporation. In 1977, Starrett purchased H.R.H. Construction (founded by Saul Horowitz in 1925) which became a subsidiary. In 1978, Starrett acquired Levitt Corporation (founded by Abraham Levitt in 1938) from the

ITT Corporation ITT Inc., formerly ITT Corporation, is an American worldwide manufacturing company based in Stamford, Connecticut. The company produces specialty components for the aerospace, transportation, energy and industrial markets. ITT's three businesses ...

. In 1995, the company was renamed Starrett Corporation. In June 1997, Jacob Frydman, attempted to purchase the company for $84 million, $12.25 per share, after reaching an agreement with brothers Paul Milstein and Seymour Milstein who owned 33% of Starrett's shares and president Henry Benach who owned 19% of Starrett's shares."Investor to Pay $80.4 Million To Buy Starrett Corporation"
''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', June 27, 1997, pg. B5. In October 1997 Mr. Paul Milstein, Chairman of Starrett announced that the company was being sold to affiliates of Manhattan-based Lawrence Ruben Co., Blackacre Capital Group, Amroc Investments and Argent Ventures. A few months after the closing of the acquisition of Starrett by Lawrence Ruben Co., Blackacre Capital Group, Amroc Investments and Argent Ventures, the company announced that Joel Simon, a former executive of Olympia & York Companies (U.S.A.), will become its new chief executive office"Starrett gets new leader"
''

'', April 14, 1998.

Subsidiaries

One

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company (law), company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidia ...

, the Starrett Building Company of

Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, erected the steel girders on the National Parking Garage in Chicago, in 1929.''Starrett Corporation'', Wall Street Journal, December 16, 1929, pg. 12. Two other subsidiaries were the Starrett Investing Corporation and the Wall and Hanover Streets Realty Company. The latter subsidiary owned the thirty-five story Wall and Hanover Building at 59 ''-'' 63

Wall Street Wall Street is a street in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs eight city blocks between Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway in the west and South Street (Manhattan), South Str ...

, Manhattan. Starrett Corporation's subsidiaries also include the Levitt Corporation, which built tract housing following

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. More recently the company maintained a successful home building business in

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

and

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

References

{{Authority control Companies based in New York City Construction and civil engineering companies established in 1929 Cultural history of New York City Real estate companies established in 1929 1929 establishments in New York (state)