Land bank purchases 3 houses from city
The structures on Main Street, Van Buren Street and Hasbrouck Avenue — are to be renovated and resold.
The Kingston City Land Bank has purchased three vacant residences that it plans to renovate and sell as affordable housing, according to Mayor Steve Noble.
The houses, which were owned by the city due to unpaid property taxes, will be returned to Kingston’s tax rolls at full value once the work is completed, Noble said.
The houses, the first purchased by the Kingston City Land Bank, are at 248 Main St., 174 Hasbrouck Ave. and 64 Van Buren St. The land bank bought them from the city for the full value of the unpaid real estate taxes.
The house at 248 Main St. is assessed at $263,500 and had $46,703 in unpaid taxes. The house at 174 Hasbrouck Ave. is assessed at $121,000 and had unpaid taxes of $23,695. The house at 64 Van Buren St. is assessed at $90,500 and had $16,723 in unpaid taxes.
“Once construction is complete, the homes will predominantly be sold to families earning at or below 100% of the Area Median Income in Ulster County,” a press release states. “Currently, this limit for a family size of four is a gross household income of $83,700.”
The land bank plans to but two more vacant houses, then renovate all five with funding from Enterprise Community Partners. Requests for proposals, or RFPs, from renovation contractors will be posted on the Kingston City Land Bank website (kingstoncitylandbank.org) when available.
The renovated houses will be sold through a public application process, details of which also will be posted on the land bank’s website.
“These first acquisitions are a landmark achievement for our community,” Noble said in a prepared statement. “Not only will the city recoup back taxes for these properties through the sale, once they are renovated, these homes will reinvigorate their neighborhoods at a time when we desperately need housing stock.”
Mike Gilliard, the Kingston City Land Bank’s executive director, said the three purchases were only a start.
“This ... milestone is just the beginning,” he said. “... Over the next few months, we will begin to implement a full range of land bank tools to transform delinquent properties into occupied homes on the city’s tax roll.”