NEW YORK (AP)  -- The number of bidders for Starrett City, the country's largest federally-subsidized housing development, is down to four.

Eight bidders submitted offers this month to buy nearly 5,900 apartments comprising 46 brick towers.

The sale might be completed as early as September and could be among the year's biggest real estate deals. Estimates run as high as $900 million.

Last year, elected officials and tenant groups blocked the $1.3 billion sale of Starrett City to a private developer.

The current owner, Starrett City Associates, reached an agreement with city, state and federal officials to ensure the complex remains affordable for its poor, working- and middle-class families.

A spokesman for Recap Advisers, which is handling the sale, declined to identify the four bidders.

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