Unsafe building to be sold for rehabilitation

The city has agreed to sell a city-owned building on Abeel Street to a buyer who has pledged to renovate it.

The city has agreed to sell an unsafe building it owns on Abeel Street to a buyer who has pledged to rehabilitate the home and make it his own.

The Common Council on Tuesday unanimously agreed to sell a vacant single-family home at 451 Abeel St. to Nathanael Mery of Poughkeepsie.

The city seized the property, along with one at 463 Abeel St., for nonpayment of taxes.

Mery will pay the city $5,000 cash for the property at 451 Abeel St. and cover any associated filing fees for the sale.

“It’s a great opportunity for me and I’d like to get moving on it,” Mery told the council prior to the vote.

He said he is currently renting a home and his first priority for the new property would be to make it safe. Mery, an electrician, said he planned to rehabilitate the Abeel Street home and move in by July 31, 2016.

In addition to agreeing to sell the home to Mery, the council also voted 8-1 to borrow $24,000 to fund the demolition of the home at 463 Abeel St.

Alderman Brad Will, D-Ward 3, cast the lone vote against the demolition.

Will said it would be a “tragedy” to consider demolishing that building despite its current condition.

He said the property has historic relevance and to tear it down sends a poor message that is not consistent with what Kingston is about.

Will added that, if the city was truly concerned with liability regarding someone being hurt on the property, it would have already taken steps to board up the house.

Prior to the council’s vote, members of Kingston’s Historic Landmarks Preservation Commission urged the aldermen to consider preservation efforts and to include them in any future decisions regarding demolitions of homes.

Katherine McCullough, who donates preservation services to help with the city’s Certified Local Government and Greenway grant-funded initiatives, said there are preservation incentives that could be used to benefit Kingston’s economy.

She said many people are unaware the incentives exist.

That can be changed, McCullough said, adding that members of the city’s two historic commissions, Friends of Historic Kingston and volunteers would donate their time to help property owners learn how to benefit from preservation tax incentives, help the city make a plan for Midtown revitalization that leverages preservation tools, and help Kingston achieve a reputation as the best place to buy an old house or building in the Hudson Valley.

In return, McCullough said, the city is asked to put a moratorium on demolitions until there is a clearly defined plan for what buildings are torn down.

Jennifer Schwartz Berky, principal of Kingston-based preservation planning firm Hone Strategic, also spoke about “demolition by neglect,” which occurs when a historic property deteriorates, potentially beyond the point of repair.

“Kingston needs to value its historic neighborhoods and the people who live in them,” Schwartz Berky said.

She said both deserve affirmative policies to make the community an affordable place where people of different economic means can maintain their properties.

While the council ultimately agreed to fund the demolition of 463 Abeel St., it also agreed to consider any potential offers to purchase the property within the next 45 days, which means the demolition would not take place before the 45-day time period had passed.

Following the meeting, Kingston Corporation Counsel Andrew Zweben said he had been made aware late Tuesday afternoon of a potential buyer for the property.

He said the potential buyer is someone the city is familiar with and it could be a promising deal.

Both 451 and 463 Abeel St. are vacant single-family homes that have been empty for many years.

Each has been deemed unsafe and is marked with a large white X on a red background, meaning the city Building Safety Division determined that even firefighters should not enter “unless there are certain indications that human life is inside.”

The city, in the past, has demolished privately owned dilapidated buildings. If demolition were to take place at 463 Abeel St., it would be the first time a city-owned structure had been razed.