The owners of Starrett City have abandoned their plan to sell the housing complex after real estate prices dropped and the deal fell through.

According to the New York Times, the owners blamed the failure on the faltering economy and a lack of financing. A New York Times source, Donald Cogville, who led a consortium of nonprofits and developers negotiating the Starrett City deal, said the sale may have failed due to the price. The owners were asking for about $1 billion.

The complex, which is the largest federally subsidized housing complex in the country, contains 46 towers with a total of 5,881 apartments across 140 acres. The owners first placed it on the market in 2006.

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) issued a statement Monday, which said, ?If the owners of Starrett City want to retain the property, then they must continue to follow a long-term affordability plan that preserves the complex and lives up to the Memorandum of Understanding we agreed to last year.?

A spokesman for the Starrett City owners says, "We plan to continue working with government to operate Starrett City as an affordable housing complex into the future.?