Hello, are you?

I just called my mother and said, Spend your day in prayer today.

It is eleven o'clock.

We will get this committee meeting started.

I'll call to order the committee meeting for the annual report of the land bank.

And our in our past council member slash colleague, Mr.

Pat Hogan.

Nice to have you back.

Thank you for having us.

For the record, for folks watching at home.

I'm Caitlin Wright.

I'm the executive director of the Greater Syracuse Land Bank.

And Pat Hogan here is the chairman of our board.

Looks like Daniel Stazon, who's on our staff, is also here, and I don't see any of our other board members.

But thank you for convening this meeting.

We appreciate the opportunity to brief the council.

State law requires that land banks brief the foreclosing governmental units that created them at least once a year.

So we report once a year to the common council and to the county legislature to keep you informed of what we're doing.

We are supposed to be reporting on projects undertaken by the land bank during the past year, the monies expended by the land bank, and the administrative activities of the land bank.

So I did send out the report in advance.

If anybody has specific questions they want to throw at us, feel free to jump in at any time.

But if not, I can just start walking us through the report.

Yeah, if I just walk through it.

Okay.

The land bank acquired 133 properties last year.

112 of those were city tax foreclosures.

We would very much like to see the speed of foreclosures increase because as you know, we're trying to catch up with a backlog of seizable properties in the city.

Last I checked last week, there were about 1900 season properties, and that was before every April 6th new properties become seizable.

I don't know what that's running like today, but years ago when we first started this, there were about 800 that would become seizable every April 6th.

So I would guess that we're you know well over 2,000 as of today.

Um in here, I kind of run through some of the changes that have been made in the tax foreclosure process.

As you know, the city had to revise their local tax foreclosure law in 2024.

Um as part of that, we've been hired as the city's agent to deal with surplus proceeds claims that are made.

Um so in the back of this packet, I have a little bit of information for you on that.

To date, 24 properties have submitted claims prior to foreclosure.

What we are contracted to do then is to get the property appraised as soon as we take title and have access to it, so the appraiser can get inside.

And the city law department provides us with a breakdown of how much they owed the city at the time of foreclosure.

And so if the appraisal comes back lower than what they owed, then there is no surplus, and we send them a letter with a copy of the appraisal and a copy of the city bill explaining that there is no surplus to be had.

Um if the appraisal comes back higher than what they owed, then there is surplus, and we provide all that documentation to Judge Paris, and he conducts uh surplus money proceeding.

He'll inform the former owner of record and any claimants that there is surplus available, hold a hearing, and then distribute it based on lien position.

So if there was a mortgage holder, they would get made whole first, and any subsequent lien holders, and then if there's anything left over at the end, that would go back to the former owner.

So of the 24 claims we've had so far, about half of those have had no surplus, and the other half have had surplus, um, a total of just under 300,000.

I was saying we just hit that mark.

Just hit it, right?

I know, but I was really surprised when I totaled it.

Uh just about what you budget for surplus proceedings in any given year.

All right.

So being that we did like just come under, um, do you foresee that we would need to up that or is it okay where it is right now?

Um I believe that that is what is in your the proposed budget for the coming year.

It's probably a safe bet.

Okay.

Um you never really know what's gonna be coming down the pipe.

So uh if we have to reevaluate at mid-year, we'll certainly come back to you and keep you informed about that.

Okay.

All right.

So those were 133 properties that we acquired.

We sold only 58 properties.

Uh this was the worst sales revenue year the land bank has ever experienced.

Um, I did see that although it was the lowest for pro for building structures, the amount of vacant land, the revenue was pretty good.

Yeah, so the average sale was the highest we've ever experienced, up to 35,000.

But if you look at the median for structures, it's really only 12.

So every year there's a handful of outliers at the top that drag our sales average up.

Um but it's a healthy median sales price of 12,000 per structure.

Um we're on track to do a lot better this coming year.

Um, but I believe the reason we did so poorly last year on sales was just that we're running out of inventory to sell.

Yeah.

Um, right after COVID, we had an opportunity because of the pause in foreclosures to go back and re-evaluate a lot of properties in our inventory and get them listed.

We had two full-time sales staff at that point, um, and we had consistently over a hundred listings at any given time.

So when people would come to the land bank, they had a lot of properties to choose from.

And for the past couple of years now, we've only had six, eight listings at any given time.

Yeah.

Um, and our buyers are aggravated that they don't have a lot of properties to choose from.

And neighbors that call us complaining about problem properties are frustrated that it's taking us a long time to get control of that problem property and do something about it because they're in the foreclosure pipeline.

Yeah.

Um, and obviously we're hurting for the sales revenue.

Um we have, however, um already closed on over $300,000 worth of sales this year, um, and it's only early April, so we are on track to be doing better in the coming year.

Um, and we have some large outliers, like for example, the Parkside Commons project is under contract to buy five vacant lots from us at the corner of um Westmoreland and Fayette, and that'll be about 175,000 sale.

Um those things are kind of unusual that a large one like that comes along, but it's an opportunity we want to grab while we have it.

Um I talk a little bit in here about when we do sell a property, we have a development enforcement mortgage.

I think most folks here are familiar with that process.

We put a lien on this the property and require the buyer to complete an agreed-upon scope of renovations, typically within a year, sometimes 18 months of taking title.

Generally speaking, that works pretty well.

We've vetted them up front and they do what they're supposed to do.

We do um provide some assistance if folks are having a hard time finishing their project.

But if you've never even started and you come around to that 12-month mark, uh, I don't feel bad foreclosing on those properties.

And we have an example here in your packet of one that we did have to foreclose on back in 2024, and we got it back.

Uh it was obviously a huge eye sore, it's on page six of your packet.

Um we were able to use grant funds to demolish it, and now we're gonna be putting one of the cross mod single-family homes there.

Um so we think that although it's a lot of administrative work to service those development enforcement mortgages and monitor the properties after the sale, uh, it's worth it because we can get control of problems like this and not just let them linger.

We've also in the past year hired a full-time uh housing pathways coordinator who is available to kind of hold people's hand through that renovation process.

We've seen that a lot of our buyers struggle to get their renovations done, either financially or you know, people are busy.

You've got a full-time job, it's a lot of work to manage a contractor.

And if you're a first-time buyer, you maybe have never hired or monitored a contractor before.

Um so she's available to help them with project management, um, make sure that the contracts they're signing are protecting their interests, help them through the permit process.

Um, and then we have some LBI stabilization dollars that we have deployed as well to help buyers who just can't finish the project.

Um in our annual report presentation, we showed a property on phage where uh the buyer several years ago had purchased a two-family from us.

They did a great job with the inside and they were owner occupants, but they just ran out of money and couldn't finish the exterior, so we were able to use LBI stabilization dollars to do the siding and windows, and it looks great now.

Um so we try to help people get over that finish line.

I really don't want to foreclose if you're making an effort and you've put a lot of money and time into it.

Yeah, I was also going to ask um because you brought up the LBI.

Um is there a reason?

And I'm not sure if it's because you already get funding from us or not, that you don't apply for a CDB funding for that stabilization pot.

Just because LBI is so easily accessible right now.

Um I think if that pot of money were to dry up in the future, we would certainly apply for CDBG.

Um, but they're funding us generously enough that um it's meeting our needs, and it's just kind of one set of regulations to follow.

Okay.

Um you can see on page seven that we anticipate there will likely be another 50 million dollars of LBI funding in the state budget this year.

Um we've been very fortunate that New York State has been allocating funds specifically for land banks, and we've brought home more LBI money than any other land bank in the state.

There are 31 land banks, I think there's 32 now actually, um, across the state.

And we've been able to bring home so much grant funding because we proactively go out and take title to properties.

So at any given time, we have a lot of shovel ready sites in our portfolio.

A lot of the other land banks will apply for money and then only go out and acquire the properties if they get the grant funding.

Well, that will create a nine to twelve month lag after you're awarded the grant before you can actually get any shovels on the ground.

Um and so New York State likes the fact that we have shovel ready projects uh ready to go.

Um I know over the years a lot of people have raised concerns about us carrying so many properties in our inventory, but this is one of the reasons why I think it makes sense to go ahead and get site control, even if we don't yet know where the money's gonna be coming from, it puts us in a better position to get those funds.

Um right now, just about and uh we get more every month.

Thank you, City of Syracuse.

That's what we're here for is to clean the those problem properties up.

Um as we're acquiring properties, we're also going through the slow process of doing site assembly.

Um on page eight here, I've outlined some of the places where we are doing that site assembly.

Um we're under contract to sell 20 properties to home headquarters for them to build new homes on for block by block.

Um, and we were we're able to assemble over time that tight cluster of them on mostly on Merriman, but a few of the side streets there.

Um you might have seen that we posted on our Facebook page the other day that some of those properties have been in our inventory for 11 years, and it just takes time to pick up all of the pieces so that we have that cluster ready to go.

Um I think nine of them we used grant funding to do demolitions on so that they're ready and we can turn them over to groups like home headquarters as shovel ready sites.

Um similarly, we're under contract to sell seven parcels on Brighton and Forest to Habitat for Humanity.

They're planning to build single family homes there using the block by block funding.

We have a cluster of 10 on Ostrander that redev CNY is planning to build on.

Um and then we're working on a cluster of 23.

Um, I take that back.

35 sites uh on the nearwest side that we're planning to develop in partnership with Jubilee.

Um so all of these things take time, but that's part of our process is to take that random checkerboard of properties that we get through tax foreclosure, slowly fill in the gaps, go maybe purchase.

Sometimes we get private donations um so that we can assemble uh meaningful chunk of land for a really transformative project.

So I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

I was just gonna say, where was the redev?

I thought that I had that wasted here.

Oh, they're on Ostrander.

O Strander, oh, I was just gonna ask they're from the 38 non-buildable demo candidates.

What happens after?

Well, we'll uh we'll assess um that means the lot itself can't be built on, it's too narrow.

If it's next to another seasable vacant lot and we have the opportunity to combine them to make a building site, that's our preference.

But if it's not, and the neighbors on either side are tax current and occupied homes, that's they can buy it.

Exactly.

Yeah, there's nothing I'm really ever gonna be able to do with it in that case, so we offer it to the neighbors.

Uh sometimes they split it down the middle, and sometimes only one neighbor is interested.

But it gives them space if they want to add a driveway.

Um we've seen some neighbors do additions on their homes with those side lots.

So Caitlin, as far as the um site assemblies for different um developers or organizations, um, because I've heard some some complaints about individuals wanting um either certain houses or certain uh vacant land, but it's being held for an organization or a developer.

And frankly, sometimes it's years down the line before they're actually going to um do anything.

And so how has that been, you know, how have you been handling those calls, or is it just one and done with more or less like we'll revisit it if they don't do anything within eight months, we'll give you a call or anything like that.

So we do take their name and phone number and put it in the database.

If for some reason that sales contract gets terminated in the future and those properties are listed again, then we do go through the database and call anybody who's ever expressed an interest in that property.

But how long are these individuals getting?

So the contracts are ranging anywhere from a year to sometimes three years, depending on the type of funding that they're applying for.

Um so right now we have a few that their contracts have lapsed.

Um so we had a contract with La Liga for a bunch of properties on Delaware Street.

Um we would be interested in hearing from any developers that are interested in building on those sites.

We've put together some really nice clusters of property on Delaware Street, and they're all zoned R5 for multifamily homes.

Um we have a property under contract on South Av, Charlene Tarver's group, the Women's Economic Institute.

Um we had a contract with them.

We actually terminated because they had failed to obtain any funding and put it back on the market.

Um she then got a new partner, a co-developer, um, and HCR seemed very optimistic about their ability to get funding.

So we've entered into a new contract with WEI and the co-developer St.

Nick's out of New York City.

Um and we've given them, I believe, 24 months to secure low-income housing tax credits.

Um, you know, sometimes they have to apply several years in a row to actually get the funding.

Yeah.

Okay.

So there is always a deadline.

Um sometimes we find that, yeah, there's a deadline, but there's probably nobody else that really wants that property anyway.

Um so we will do extensions if necessary.

Well, I'm I'm not speaking about necessarily larger vacant lots, but maybe it's a how a lot next to someone's house, or there might be a house or two on a street that there's someone already rehabbing in that neighborhood, but that but it's already tied to another larger development.

But well, if that's the case and you're hearing that from people, please do let me know about the address.

I'd love to look into it and see what's going on with those properties.

Um I can't think of any cases where we're holding a house for somebody, but we are holding a lot of vacant land.

Here it's the uh Kenmore area.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

Okay.

Okay.

All right.

Is the project I was driving down Crowley Street the other day and they were knocking down some trees.

Is that part of something that you're doing?

Yes, on the 200 block of Crowley, we have um I believe one large parcel that we had already owned, and then a smaller one that the city just recently deeded us.

We're adjusting those lot lines to create two building parcels, and we'll be putting two of the cross mod houses there.

So you probably have seen quite a bit of tree removal all over the city.

We had our crews out hustling to get trees down before March 31st because of the long-eared bat, we're supposed to cut down trees between November 1st and March 31st.

So we wanted to get down um as much as we could so that those sites would be clear for building this summer.

So let me ask you a question for those module houses, the processing.

If uh someone from the community would want to purchase one of those houses, what is the process?

We're actually having a workshop tonight at 5 30 at the Inspire Hub that used to be called the Tech Garden.

Um that'll be in person there, and it'll also be broadcast on Zoom.

There's a link on our Facebook page.

Um, and then afterwards we will post the recording of that Zoom on our YouTube page so anybody can watch the recording.

And we're gonna talk about the process that buyers will go through.

Um there is a waiting list that will open on April 16th, and we are first going to um verify that they're income qualified.

These will be sold to buyers anywhere between 50 and 120 percent of area median income, so it's a really broad range.

Um we'll look at your tax returns and your pay stubs to make sure that you fall into that range, and then we want to see that you're pre-approved for a mortgage, and then we'll calculate to make sure that your monthly housing payments won't exceed 30% of your gross monthly income.

And once we've checked those three boxes, then you're eligible to put down a deposit and reserve your house.

So we have a list of 52 addresses.

We have on that list which model, because there's three different models we're building, will be at each address.

And by the 16th, I should also have the estimated completion date for each of those houses filled in so that uh as buyers are pre-qualified and they want to come in and put down a deposit.

Maybe the model is more important to them, maybe the location is more important, or maybe they have a lease that's ending and the completion date is more important, but they can select from whatever's still available and put down $500 and reserve their house.

So I understand, but just for the people who are listening, um, that might not be able to go to the meeting or are nervous to make that next step, right?

Because a lot of time people want to purchase homes or they want to get in home, but they're nervous, right?

It's a big ordeal.

When you said um 50% of uh area medium income, what do you mean?

You don't happen to have that table handy, do you, Daniel?

He's gonna look that up for us.

Well, you f well you find that that information is these um owner required.

Yes, so um just to give a little more context because we just dived into this.

Um we have applied for funding from New York State to build 52 single-story single-family homes.

They're all gonna be three bedrooms, two baths.

Um I'm expecting by the end of this month we'll be under contract for the grant funding and with the modular builders.

Um, and then if everything goes according to plan, we should have shovels in the ground by June.

Um, and the first home delivered by the end of June.

Um so they they will must be sold to owner occupants.

There are gonna be 52 of them, and they want us to serve four different income brackets.

So there's gonna be 13 for people at or below 60 percent of AMI, 13 for people at or below 80 percent, 13 for at or below 100%, and 13 for at or below 120 percent.

About 300,000, 315,000 per house.

Um, and we're gonna try to list them for as close to fair market value as possible because we want those transactions to help increase comps in the neighborhood.

Um, but the buyer's mortgage will be based on their income.

So it might be listed at 250, but the buyer will pay anywhere between 125 and 250, depending on their income.

Are these homes only for first-time home buyers?

No.

No, okay.

Uh it has to be owner-occupied and it has to remain owner-occupied for a period of 10 years.

If they resell it during that 10-year period, they would just have to sell it to another owner-occupant who falls within that income range.

So, what do you do with the gap?

Who who is sufficing for the gap?

That's the New York State grant funding.

New York City.

Caitlin, out of the um I'm not even sure what the total number of the sites that are being held for individuals to develop.

Um be homeowner occupied and renters?

Because I see Blueprint 15 has the bill for row houses.

Are those homeowners or those would be owner occupied.

Okay.

Yeah, and everything that Habitat and Redev and home headquarters are doing right now would be owner occupied.

There's a lot more state funding available right now for owner occupied than there is for rentals.

Um Jubilee homes would be rentals.

Owner occupied owners.

Oh, okay.

Yeah.

The only people that are really approaching us for rental new construction would be low-income housing tax credit projects.

Um we had sold a bundle to Housing Visions.

They completed some of those this past year.

They did some beautiful projects at Midland and Calvin and Midland and Beard.

Um, but I don't currently have any bundles lined up for them.

The one on South Ave uh for Charlene's group, that would be rentals, and um the one on Delaware was supposed to be rentals.

We also have assembled about a one-acre site on the 100 block of West Brighton, and that's not held for any particular developer at this point.

We had one community meeting with the neighbors, uh, and I was really pleased with the level of attendance.

A lot of people showed up.

Um, but actually, Counselor Caldwell, I'd like to talk to you about maybe getting your help doing more outreach to the community and trying to get some younger people to tell me what they want built there.

Um I want to get a diversity of opinions on what people want to see built in their neighborhood.

Um, but that is a pretty busy street there, and it's very rare that we get such a big site, a whole acre.

Um thankful that you guys I was every day.

I just kept saying it's coming, you're gonna knock it down.

You're gonna knock it down, you're gonna have across the street as well.

Oh, okay.

Oh.

Yeah, the across the street as well, correct.

There's one house on the corner that we knocked down there.

Um I'd like to see a new house built in that location, but it's just kind of on its own.

What about the next one?

The next one over in from the corner was recently purchased by a local landlord.

He plans to renovate it, and then the next parcel over from that is a city owned parcel.

We can't buy it from them.

He wouldn't want to I mean what I mean.

It wouldn't be too late necessarily for us to try to make him a purchase offer.

Um I have been in communication with him.

I'll see if he's interested.

Okay.

So Lafayette is also part of um on the opposite side, West Lafayette, because you know, bright right behind it is all those.

There's some sites on Lafayette that we're gonna put single family homes on.

The crossmod homes, yep.

Yeah.

So on Brighton, half of that site is zoned R5, and the other half is zoned R2.

So you could do something bigger.

Um, but Lafayette zoned for single family homes.

Okay.

Uh Caitlin.

Um, I was looking at uh the vacant lots and green space.

So the property at the intersection of Wall Street and Grandpa.

Uh we took that down a year ago.

So is that considered a vacant lot which is too small to develop, or is that considered green space?

Because Wolf and Grant is the one that it was the easy cafe.

Yes, it was easy cafe.

It's it's a green space right now.

I would love to see somebody build on it.

And it's uh in an MX zoning district.

It's not a very large lot, but the rental property next to it has a huge parking lot, and I'd like to see if they might be willing to sell us part of that parking lot so that we'd have a more building.

And I had proposed to VO bikes at one time if they would consider buying their property to put uh bicycle racks over there.

And I thought that would be a good proposal as well, because a lot of people use the VO and they leave them in that area.

Thank you.

I haven't haven't heard from them.

Yeah, okay.

Uh I do have an answer to your question, Counselor Caldwell about uh the income cutoffs.

For a family of four, the income at 50% of AMI is 47.

474 a year.

Um but then you know, this goes up to 120% AMI, so it's a really broad range.

Right.

Okay.

Caitlin, just jump into the brownfield um section.

Um parcels do you have that are considered brown fill or neat brownfield testing?

And um, you know, what are your are you guys doing the remediation, or you just get the um part one and part two and uh tell the buyer what needs to be done?

So we have uh large grant for brownfield testing from the EPA that we do phase one and phase two environmental site assessments with, and depending on the results that determines the next step.

So sometimes we find that the site is clean enough that we can put it on the market and tell buyers what remediation has been done there in the past, and just taking away those unknowns gets buyers interested.

In fact, 3801 South Salina Street next to the Elks Building.

People were afraid of that because it used to be a gas station, and we used the EPA money to do testing and found that there are no underground tanks and it's relatively clean site, and we now have a buyer under contract.

Um sometimes we find that they're so dirty that no buyer's ever gonna touch it.

And uh we did find a little bit of contamination with the bread factory, and it was just enough for them to get into the Brownfield tax credit program.

So in that case, the buyer wanted it not cleaned up yet so that they could apply for those tax credits.

Um in another case, 900 South Ave.

There were some underground tanks that we opted to remove.

Um, we're gonna recoup the cost of that tank removal in the sales price when we do ultimately close, and Johnny turns that into a gas station.

Um, and then like the consolidated industries building over on the nearwest side is so dirty.

Uh, we applied for an EPA cleanup grant, and we were awarded that in 2024.

We got about 3.7 million dollars to clean up the consolidated industries building and 917 Montgomery.

At consolidated industries, we'll have to demolish the building so that we can get to the soil underneath the slab and remove that contaminated soil.

It's in a residential zoning district, so when we're done, that'll make like 13 building sites.

917 Montgomery, we want to keep that building in place.

We'll be doing a little bit of remediation under the building.

Um, and then we're hoping to turn it into kind of a plain vanilla box and find a local business person who would like to open a business there.

But we're working on planning for that site in conjunction with Blueprint 15.

What about the um site by Southwest Center?

Yes.

Oh, yeah, 248 um Lincoln.

Yeah.

We haven't done any testing there yet.

Um we did a phase one environmental site assessment, but I don't think they've done any drilling there yet.

Um, but we're trying to figure out who might be interested in redeveloping that site.

So tiny homes isn't um they have expressed an interest, but they haven't really dived in and submitted an offer yet.

So uh that would be a great option if they are interested in building there.

Caitlin, um, the property uh was Patrick's cleaners, the North Krauss.

Um last when we met with Brownfields, they were still working on the contamination.

Yeah, that's the thing about these Brownfield sites, they all take a long time.

Yeah, it is a long time.

It's going to be a long time.

But this past year in 2025, we took title to Patrick's Dry Cleaners site and um we did that so that we could apply for another EPA cleanup grant.

So just a few months ago we submitted a cleanup grant application.

I'm cautiously optimistic that we will get funded, and we asked for about 2.4 million dollars to clean up that site.

It has a really dense concentration of soil contamination underneath from the dry cleaning chemicals.

Yes.

Um so there also we will have to demolish the building and remove a lot of that soil, and then we're gonna chemically treat the groundwater because a lot of that has contaminated the groundwater and is migrating under neighboring properties.

Um once that's all clean, we would love to find a developer to build on that site.

So first I'm hopeful that we'll get the EPA money.

Then it'll take us a while to get it cleaned up, but we will put it on the market eventually.

And I think that moving the 690 on ramp over to Krauss is gonna be a game changer for that property.

When I first started looking at it, I thought nobody's ever gonna want to build here, but now it's becoming a high traffic corridor.

There'll be a lot of eyes on it.

I'm hoping that we can get somebody to build at that site.

And then a block south at the corner of Krauss and Burnett, that gas station um is seizable.

I'm hoping that the city will give it to us soon, and then we'll be doing phase two testing there and get that on the market.

Yeah, it's nightmare.

Thank you.

So, what's going on with the flux zones?

Uh excited, is there any changes from last year when we talked?

No significant change, no.

So still the same.

Um I just was smiling at the hogie over there.

I love being silent.

Yeah, like I'm not used to this over here.

So go see tools.

I'm not used to it.

So one of the things that um thank you, um, Console Browser for getting this going.

But one of the things that I think would help out the community a lot because we have a lot of moving pieces going on, um, land bank, home headquarters, jubilee, uh, tiny homes, um housing vision.

Like, there's so many opportunities where people really can get homes, and that's phenomenal.

We just gotta create some kind of ecosystem that people can understand that, you know, for especially for not duplication for you guys, right?

Because you're gonna get people coming here there, there, dear, there.

Like, have you guys start talking about um how you guys habitat, right?

Everyone's building right now that there's a line of an application, maybe a one process application that says, hey, we're all building, this is where we're building at.

If you're interested, we all have very similar um, you know, medium incomes.

This is what we need you to do because right now I could see it being like I mean, I mean, right?

And then you find out that's a good idea.

It's kind of like shopping for a credit card and you put in one application and multiple, you get multiple credit card hits, like right, because you all all is and then they're all phenomenal houses are beautiful.

You know, just to make it uh uh easier for the community as well as for you guys.

Well, the good news is almost all of these buyers are going through the home headquarters home buyeredution center.

So that is kind of one central point where we could reach everyone.

Um we should all be advertising these opportunities through the home buyer education center so that people there can see what homes are on the market and available.

Um certainly if they're working with CNY Affordable Realty home headquarters is brokerage.

Um Mary Beth is very aware of all the opportunities that are out there and the different types of homes.

Um we particularly think that our cross mods are gonna be interesting to uh specific subset of buyers that want single story living.

Um it's pretty unusual.

I don't think anybody else is building single story.

Um so I think people that want to age in place or that are downsizing might be attracted to ours.

Um but they're all beautiful homes that these group various groups are working on right now.

No, you guys are doing a phenomenal and and they're you know, like you said, who's looking for single family, who's looking for this, and what's really gonna be happy is people want it now, right?

So um land bank, people are gonna look at it like, wait a minute, June, okay.

I want to get in, right?

Um, so it's a great opportunity.

So maybe, you know, um talking to Kerry and him to figure out a way that as they're doing those home buyer classes, they say, hey, if you're looking for this kind of module house, this is who's doing with this.

If you're looking for this, this is who's doing this, so they'll know after the classes.

It's a great idea.

Consistently, there are two that are winning most of the bids.

There's a third company that occasionally bids, they're usually the highest bidder.

Um, we're looking for demolition companies that also have their asbestos handling license because usually when we knock a building down, it's so um deteriorated that it's unsafe to go in and do the abatement prior to the demo.

So the whole demo is treated as if it's an asbestos abatement project.

Um so I haven't found any more demolition companies locally that have their asbestos handling license, but if anybody's aware of any, please send them my way.

It's about 30 pounds to it's running us about 30,000.

That's including a whole bunch of extra costs that aren't part of the demo contract itself.

The demo contract is running around 2325.

Well, the pro the demo is the asbestos abatement, so yeah, we assume that they all have asbestos.

So to get all of 60 down this year, just money that stands in the way, or is it a the speed at which they can replicate?

It's really just money.

Um we did 70 last year with land bank initiative funds.

We will be applying again soon for more land bank initiative funds.

Um, we have to have one of our grants 75% spent down before we can apply for more.

Um, so I'm optimistic that we will be getting it, but it's just a matter of timing.

Before we jump into the finances um for MBD, is there uh is there a specific number that's currently in the foreclosure pipeline that's already gone through council that hasn't reached land bank yet?

Good afternoon, counselors or good morning.

Come on, Jordan, director of housing and neighborhood planning.

Yes, so in phase 18, we have a few hundred properties that the law is working to move through the foreclosure pipeline.

Okay, we are gearing up for phase 19 right now.

We should have that list complete in the next two weeks or so that has about 2,000 properties, and we'd be looking to start with moving vacant lots first.

So the first step would be to get that to the land bank to get a board resolution for all of them.

Okay, huge.

So one of the things I know, right?

Look, I one of the things that um come on while you're there, and while we could think about a process, you know, I see some of these beautiful houses that are being put together, some of them like on um state, they're all together.

So everything when you look, you just go, oh wow, right?

But then, like I was looking at some of the houses on Brighton, not Brighton, but um West off, yeah, and like the scatter houses.

I know we're doing the um housing strategy, and it's for two neighborhoods, but we also need to think about how, as we're putting in new houses and new neighborhoods, how we can make adjacent houses on the side, like some kind of help support because you have this one beautiful house that stands, and then maybe the next door neighbor needs a paint or something, they just can't afford it, but it makes this house sit alone when you know it to help out those names.

So I don't know what we could think of or how we could be creative, but I I saw that on Bright, I mean on West Lafayette at the end there, day and for their brand new house that I think land bank did is beautiful, but to the left is like to the right, right?

So how we can support those neighbors.

Yeah, I definitely agree with that.

And I think as we look further into the resurgent neighborhood initiative and we're building new houses, we'll think more comprehensively about how we can connect existing homeowners to home headquarters for different grants, how we can better leverage code enforcement.

So maybe it's not a homeowner but a rental property that's fallen into disrepair.

How can we make sure that it's on codes radar so that we can have comprehensive neighborhood improvement?

And I think that um through Blueprint 15s um foot, that's a little further outside of the footprint, but those conversations have been being had.

Like how can we support the um existing um residents as development is continuing to happen in that area.

Um, but I think that on that same note, um, it should be across the board anywhere that where there is um new development.

That's why we definitely need this is just a plug.

Um we still need block blitz from home headquarters.

Um they they had they're doing their celebration this year, but we hope it returns next year, and maybe those the focus can be in the areas that have had larger development um so that those other neighbors don't feel you know, slighted per se.

So yeah.

We've mostly been using our stabilization dollars on land bank properties, but now you've got my wheels turning.

We could reach out to some of the neighbors that are near the new cross mods and see if they need help with exterior improvements.

Yeah, and and we also did the one percent home improvement loan on the south side anyway, um, through UMPA, I mean through um UNSAC, but um we didn't do it last year.

We wanted to shift it to support um landlords.

Um, so we'll probably look at that this year because um a lot of the homeowners didn't want a loan versus a grant.

So yeah, and I would just add we also did receive money through the community project funds to be able to do additional stabilization within neighborhoods.

So some of that money is set aside for our emergency repair program, but we also have blight busting that we can use that for as well as demolition, so being able to extend code enforcement's uh capacity to take down properties.

Yeah.

Thank you, Camal.

Come on, come on.

Oh, I was just wondering, uh, you did mention the law department.

Of course, all this is predicated on how much help we get from the law departments first foreclosures, though.

So do we know?

I mean, is it still just one lawyer handling it?

Or I believe they have two lawyers and a few paralegals that are supporting with the process now.

I think right now one of the biggest challenges are the requirements for noticing, uh, especially when we look at phase 18.

We sent out 60-day notices on all properties within that phase, but that was in 2023.

So now, as we're going through a lot of those that noticing needs to take place again, which requires a lot of manual review, making sure that the correct person is being serviced, et cetera.

So I will say they are working very hard to increase the number of properties that we're closing on every month.

Um, but they have definitely improved their process a lot.

I see Stephanie back there.

I was just wondering if if Steph I couldn't Stephanie.

Um I just, you know, I think in all the it's great having all these counselors, all my former colleagues here, but you know, it's one point I know counselor Manto, we we did talk about uh he was in on the discussion.

We did talk about somehow addressing vacant property that's not taxed delinquent.

It still affects our neighborhoods really badly, you know.

So I just wonder if there's any initiative on the as far as the administration addressing that.

Some of these properties are being used like for storage and everything.

Addressing through codes or through well, I have the administration address and there's no that's an excellent question.

Stephanie passed out.

But we actually trade Michigan.

The fee would probably be better here.

No, thanks for that.

I think I think any and all options um available.

I think we there's gonna be an emphasis from this administration on both vacant um sort of franchise-related properties like the the drugstores and other properties that popped up, did their business and and left neighborhoods that are on key corridors.

Um, and the land bank's been great.

Um, we hope to continue using as a tool, not just through tax foreclosure, but at times for that strategic acquisition.

Um, and then other tools at our disposal that our urban renewal agency or the IDA have in terms of um utilization um strategically of eminent domain and other strategies so that we can go after those properties that are most egregious, but for whatever reason, someone's paying the taxes, and there really is no other legal way.

I know counselor Nave, we talked a little bit about this last week.

Yes, um, and I'm sure you all have um properties, probably a common list and a separate list of properties that have gone too long without being addressed, and for whatever reason, um you know, the owners continue to pay taxes.

I will say, I know Camon mentioned the um blight busting program, and that was started.

The attorney general gave us money to look at why are people paying taxes on these properties, yet they're they're causing distress in neighborhoods, particularly homes.

Um, and that otherwise could be put into productive use.

We have homes that are they were home ownership, they they had investments in them.

We have homes that are they were homeownership, they they had investments in them, and that that it's a little laborious, but it has had that positive effect of banks that might be um amalgamating property, they don't they're out of Texas, they don't they only own five properties here.

They're like, eh, just keep paying that tax bill to them, that amount isn't a lot.

To us, it's having a detrimental impact on the community.

So those real estate-owned or REO properties.

I know MBD spends a lot of time figuring out, okay, who is it and how can these five is it Wells Fargo or these five, you know, um Deutsche Bank or whoever um has sort of a cluster, and that's the best way to kind of go after those.

So there's a there's a little bit of a strategy for all of them, but we hope to work in collaboration of the the hot list that um that you all might have, whether it's commercial or residential, so that we can um attack those aggressively going forward.

But it's definitely the cat made me think of this.

So, like the the drug store situation we have going on, the pharmacies where they're kind of just pulled up shop.

They're not tax delinquent, right?

Like the old Walgreens, they're paying the taxes on just all land lease properties that are just sitting back.

Or like the the old KFC on um Butternut, like there's a lot of properties, the Burger King on Sauce Lancry.

There's um those we're calling them franchise sort of properties, and Mayor mentioned to the attorney general that this is you know um a problem in this community, and there was like hmm, this is a problem in Albany, this is a problem in Buffalo, this is a problem in Rochester.

What could we do together um to address these issues in a strategic way?

Sometimes, not always.

Um, we kind of monitor loop net and other like commercial listing sites to see if they are listed.

For example, Burger King was listed for a while and then they pulled it, yeah, and we reached out and they said, Oh, we want to fix it up a little so it's more attractive for sale, but it doesn't appear that they're Stephanie uh the old KSC on butter and par.

Um I know the person and she's trying to sell it, and like she wants it, but you gotta work with the city.

And when I offer, why don't you sell it to the city or do something like to donate to make it rotating?

She just pushed back on me.

She wouldn't.

No, I think one of the hopeful, you know, results in some of the increase in property value that we've experienced in the last couple of years is waking people up a little bit.

Um, but they still have to be realistic about what a property is worth.

Right.

So if you list a property like that for two million dollars, no one's I'm not saying that's what it's listed at, but sometimes these commercial properties are listed so high that the cost to purchase and renovate doesn't make sense, and no bank is gonna um give a loan for that.

So there's there's there's some right sizing that needs to happen, but I think as we aggressively seek code enforcement options and make sure the properties are as tight, at least as um you know, well managed as possible while they're vacant, that's our job.

She can't handle that lot anymore.

She's told me that.

Well, and those are addressing like a lot of the commercial properties, but as far as the residential properties, um, we as we've seen, we've um implemented the um the estate planning um stuff because that is really a problem with some of the residential vacants that there was no estate planning, and so family bickering about who owns what and who's gonna get then no one does anything with it.

Um so those then become just at some point they're so far gone, nobody wants them.

Yeah.

No, and and we've all we've all I look at every face on this table.

We all know our examples, right?

Of families that we that we could have kept that wealth in the family, but for some reason or the other.

I will say on the proactive front, we are trying to use the financial empowerment center in that partnership with the United Way to do a better job getting out there with the information and for people to have access to free or low-cost estate planning, um, so that some of we can families can keep wealth in some way um so that we avoid these these circumstances because it is it truly is can be very tragic.

I know you have these cases every week, I'm sure.

And second plug, we just got our Facebook um page, so we can now start posting those things as well.

Thank you.

That's true.

Thank you, Eric.

And we do try to collaborate with codes.

I know there's been some times where there's a tax current property like that, and the owner's just not doing anything to maintain it where they've encouraged them to donate it to the land bank, and that's worked out a few times.

So it's nice to be able to work together on those things.

Yeah.

So you're added stuff.

All right, we got a few minutes.

We are, but we're very fortunate to have such an awesome partner in the land bank that isn't just about the tax foreclosures that we can come at times um when appropriate to strategically go after property that we know um for whatever reason is either causing detriment or has potential for um like a long sort of list of or stretch of properties for redevelopment.

So appreciate that.

Thank you.

All right, thank you guys.

All right, jumping into some of the financials.

Um anybody have any financial questions before I'm just um wanted to ask about um the ARPA funding.

Um I don't think any of this has been spent already.

No.

Well, maybe the Bratt Factory.

Oh, these were four grants to our buyers that were originally directly to the buyers, but um the city asked us to take over and manage them, and these are our sub-recipients now.

The bread factory is spending pretty quickly.

Um I believe if the castle hasn't been spent completely yet, it will be soon.

We're spending that on architectural drawings.

And 900 South Ave they're planning to put into the project as soon as they start construction, which knock on wood should be this summer.

Okay, all right.

Um, and why we brought up the castle, and I'm thinking about the west side one.

Um I don't know if it's the construction company over there doing anything because I haven't seen anyone, but windows have been popping up missing.

Yeah, we have a problem with squatters constantly getting into that building over there, Delaware and Grace.

Um early on when we first took title, uh, they were stealing pipes and caused a gas leak and caused the entire building to fill with gas.

Um so at this point I don't really mind some of the windows being out because at least it gives us some ventilation.

But I thought they were um stained glass windows, so I wasn't.

They're being removed by squatters.

Yeah.

Wow.

Yeah.

It is frustrating.

And you know, the idea for them to make it between the like the community center and the other.

Yeah.

Just perfect, you know.

Yeah.

That's why we acquired it.

Yeah.

Okay.

All right.

Um, but as far as finances go, um, despite it having been our worst sales year ever, um, we only had a net loss of about 60,000 last year.

And there's a few reasons for that.

Um, one is that the state is giving us 200,000 a year from LBI just for general operations that helps to offset some of our payroll costs.

We also had about 140,000 that had been an old grant from Onadaga County that became unrestricted this past year, so that's unexpected income.

And then our city funding is typically 750,000 a year.

Uh, your your fiscal year is six months off from ours.

So typically um we'll spend the first half of that between July 1st and December 31st, and the second half of that 750 in the first half of the next year.

Um we got it all in one disbursement this year, and because we were experiencing such a bad revenue shortfall, we were able to book it for all of our property maintenance expenses, and so it made 2025 look not that bad.

But what it means is that I won't be booking any city income between January 1st and June 30th this year.

Um, so we need to make up for that with more aggressive sales, which that's the 63.

Is that the is that the loss you're talking about?

Well, that was our loss for 2025.

Um but I'm expecting that 2026 will be affected by the fact that we booked all that income last year, and so we're not booking any in the first six months of this year.

Okay.

Which house is the Gustav Stickley?

Is that Anadaga?

438 Columbus.

Columbus.

It's over on in the Westcott area.

Yeah.

Okay.

What's going on there?

So the exterior of that house was completely restored by UMPA, the University Neighborhood Preservation Association, and then they didn't have the resources to go on and do the interior.

Um the idea was that eventually OHA would take it and operate it as a museum, but they are no longer interested in doing that.

We had agreed to take it and hold it just in the interim until they could raise funds to do the interior work.

Well, then, of course, once we owned it, we found ourselves in a position where the owner has to be the applicant for a lot of these grants.

And so we have now applied for a ton of grants to do interior restoration.

We've uh received quite a few, um, and that project will be going out to bid sometime in April.

Um, and we expect them to start a significant amount of interior restoration work.

Um, there is a friends of the Gustav Stickley House Foundation that is working on some additional fundraising and planning for what will ultimately happen there.

Um we are looking for an operator who would be interested in operating that uh facility once the restoration work is done.

Okay, and uh Pacney hasn't expressed any interest.

I don't know that they have the capacity to handle something like that.

Okay, they don't have any paid staff right now.

Oh, okay.

You're PACNE, or you're thinking OHA.

OHA had backed out, yeah.

Okay, I think a PACNE, but yeah.

I think in part there was a lot of there was a significant amount of staff turnover um when Greg left, and their board, I think they have a lot of new board members who just weren't c as comfortable with the idea as the old board was.

It about Gustav Stickley.

So that this house is the first um, yeah.

This house is the first craftsman interior in the U.S.

Um it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

We all think it should be eligible to be considered a national historic landmark as well, um, but nobody's ever written the nomination.

Um so it's really about the significance of this design.

Yeah, the thinking with OHA was that the first floor would be a museum in the basement, there would be an apartment for a caretaker, and then floors two and three would be rooms that they could operate as more or less a B and B.

Um that is still the layout that they're planning to do for the restoration.

So we just need to find somebody that's able to operate it and to make that first floor open and accessible to the public at least part of the time.

Any other questions?

No.

No questions?

Anything, Pat.

It's good seeing my old colleagues here.

And you know what?

It's a wonderful as far as the people at this table really know how critical the land bank's mission is as far as housing goes.

The land bank's sort of like the Swiss Army knife of any anything will collaborate with anybody on anything and try all sorts of new things to house the people in the city of Syracuse.

And Caitlin and her her gang do a great job as far as putting everything together.

They actually did a shout out to uh land bank at the NICOM New York State conference.

They talked about mod the utilize showing you what you guys are doing right there.

So it is an exciting time if we can conquer this housing crisis.

So you know, I appreciate the administration too.

You know, all in it together.

Yeah, and I we didn't touch on it, but um I do want to say um thank you.

You know, we appreciate that um even when there's individuals within the properties, um, you guys kind of work with them to see if they want to purchase the property if it was a um if it was a rental or sometime it's again that estate planning situation where there's a family member in the property and you guys do you know all that you can do to keep them housed and you know where they're comfortable.

So we do appreciate that.

All right, all right.

So if there are no other questions, we will call this meeting adjourned.

And again, we