Sycamore (SICKamore?) Village selling fast

[kernwatch]

This is another example of heavily taxpayer-subsidized housing development that is clearly unsustainable.

And it is occuring in the context of the fast-approaching city tax sale on Oct 20-22, when a record breaking 4,580 distressed or abandoned Bflo properties are on the auction block.

Why would the city heavily subsidize folks in a shrinking impoverished city to move where nobody lived when Bflo was more than 2X larger? And on toxic land no less!

Further illustrating its folly, 10 of 11 buyers so far are from Bflo, not buyers from afar adding to Bflo's ever-shrinking numbers. That means that 10 more Bflo houses are likely to go vacant, insuring that taxpayes will possibly face the demolition of 10 more houses.

Taxpayers build, then taxpayers demolish . . . sound policy??

From BfloRising:

http://buffalorising.com/story/first...ore_villag#sca

First Phase of Sycamore Village Nearly Sold-Out
Today (9/29), 12:01am By West Coast Perspective


The first fifteen homes in the Sycamore Village development are nearing completion and eleven are sold. The subdivision at the corner of Sycamore Street and Jefferson Avenue will ultimately include four subsidized and 20 market-rate units. First move-ins are scheduled for the third week of October.

“Nine of eleven market-rate and half of the subsidized homes are sold,” says project realtor Keith Barnes of Barnes Real Estate Group Inc. The project appears to be tapping pent-up demand. “We have done very little marketing,” he says. The market-rate homes are priced from $165,000 to $188,000 while the four subsidized homes are priced in the $155,000 to $165,000 range.

Barnes is not surprised by the strong sales to date. He has been selling new infill homes for several years and says a few custom, market-rate homes built on nearby blocks have sold for even more. Ten of the buyers are existing city residents and one is from Hamburg according to Barnes.

Nine styles of homes featuring three or four bedrooms and 1,400 to 1,700 sq.ft. of living space are being built. Most of the residences have rear-loading garages, many accessed from Sydni Alley, a new alleyway cutting through the site. The homes have arts and crafts style exteriors with covered front porches and cultured stone accents.

A park-like lawn area with a decorative pedestrian walkway in the interior of the block will offer a secure commons flanked on both sides by the front porches of adjacent homes for young children to play and neighbors to gather.

Sycamore Village is being constructed on a former brownfield site. New York State contributed over $500,000 to the remediation of the property. Homes being built by Lamparelli Construction and were designed by Dean Sutton Architects.

Get Connected: Keith Barnes, Barnes Real Estate Group, 716.894.5324

[joe d.]

This is another example of heavily taxpayer-subsidized housing development that is clearly unsustainable.

And it is occuring in the context of the fast-approaching city tax sale on Oct 20-22, when a record breaking 4,580 distressed or abandoned Bflo properties are on the auction block.

Why would the city heavily subsidize folks in a shrinking impoverished city to move where nobody lived when Bflo was more than 2X larger? And on toxic land no less!

Further illustrating its folly, 10 of 11 buyers so far are from Bflo, not buyers from afar adding to Bflo's ever-shrinking numbers. That means that 10 more Bflo houses are likely to go vacant, insuring that taxpayes will possibly face the demolition of 10 more houses.

Taxpayers build, then taxpayers demolish . . . sound policy??

From BfloRising:

DICK...WHY DONT YOU come back to Buffalo..and buy one...we need someone to keep these rats honest!!

[WNYresident]

“Nine of eleven market-rate and half of the subsidized homes are sold,” says project realtor Keith Barnes of Barnes Real Estate Group Inc. The project appears to be tapping pent-up demand. “We have done very little marketing,” he says. The market-rate homes are priced from $165,000 to $188,000 while the four subsidized homes are priced in the $155,000 to $165,000 range.

I truely can't understand subsidizing any home SPECIALLY when there are places to rent...

[granpabob]

why subsidise when you can buy house cheap at the tax auctions. we have 10,000 empty houses that could become homes cheap. or the 4,000 they will be selling soon. We got in the banking trouble we are in now because of loan give aways let them buy cheap houses and fix them if they cant afford brand new ones

[cookie]

How heavily subsidized are these places? Do you have numbers? It sounds like only 4 units are subsidized.
It also appears as though the market rate ones kept 10 buyers from succumbing to suburban sprawl so far.
Would it be nice if they could have found an existing house to their liking? Yes. But, are there other 165k houses existing near that area?
Like I've said in another thread, I'm certainly no expert in housing, but if you give the people what they ask for, they stay. If you don't, they're gone to wherever they can find what they are looking for.

I don't understand the subsidized part either res, but we're talking about 2 out of 4, not the whole development. It was probably a condition the city tacked on to make 4 of them available to low income buyers.

[WNYresident]

How heavily subsidized are these places? Do you have numbers? It sounds like only 4 units are subsidized.
It also appears as though the market rate ones kept 10 buyers from succumbing to suburban scrawl so far.
Would it be nice if they could have found an existing house to their liking? Yes. But, are there other 165k houses existing near that area?
Like I've said in another thread, I'm certainly no expert in housing, but if you give the people what they ask for, they stay. If you don't, they're gone to wherever they can find what they are looking for.

I don't understand the subsidized part either res, but we're talking about 2 out of 4, not the whole development. It was probably a condition the city tacked on to make 4 of them available to low income buyers.

BUt how does a low income buyer keep a house when they are low income? SOmething goes wrong they don't have the money to repair or do upkeep? Pointless don't you think?

[cookie]

BUt how does a low income buyer keep a house when they are low income? SOmething goes wrong they don't have the money to repair or do upkeep? Pointless don't you think?

Yes, I do think so (pointless that is)!! But again, the majority of them are not subsidized. No clue why they would have included 4 subsidized ones unless the city made it a condition of the project, which wasn't too bright on their part.

[kernwatch]

It is difficult to find the multiple sources of taxpayer subsidies to the project in multiple posts on BfloRising over the past year or so.

In addition to the massive cleanup of the contaminated industrial site, ethere was a taxpayer-funded demolition of two long-abandoned newbuilds constyructed without proper clearances by 'connected' developer Dennis PPenman.

Here is a summary of subsidy costs, exceeding $100,000 per house, from David Torke, an eastsdie activist highly critical of the project:

http://fixbuffalo.blogspot.com/2007/08/sick-yet.html

update - 8/28/07 11am
Conversations this morning indicate that the 25 homes scheduled for this site weigh in at $265,000 with a subsidy of $75K and homeowner incentive of $25K. The actual cost, when you internalize the 1.3 million remediation that took place late 2006, brings the cost of each 1800 sq ft piece of suburbia with an attached 2 and half car garage much closer to East Amherst than what would work for the City's East side.
ROI? None. Taxpayers will be subsidizing this forever.

[Rhiannon]

BUt how does a low income buyer keep a house when they are low income? SOmething goes wrong they don't have the money to repair or do upkeep? Pointless don't you think?

Because they buy a house for say $5000 dollars cash at the auction with the earned income credit they got at tax time... only have to squirrel away what the tax and water bill is going to cost them.
(or just dont pay it for 2 years, then use your income tax refund again)
That is way cheaper than people who have a mortgage payment or even a $650 dollar rent payment per month. Drive a piece o crap car, maybe even not bother to insure it?? as long as you dont drive it out of the City limits so the suburb cops dont catch you... pipe in illegal cable... pay the minimum utilities till HEAP time! it can be done! If the hot water tank takes a dump just go steal one out of the abandoned house next door!

[WNYresident]

Because they buy a house for say $5000 dollars cash at the auction with the earned income credit they got at tax time... only have to squirrel away what the tax and water bill is going to cost them.
(or just dont pay it for 2 years, then use your income tax refund again)
That is way cheaper than people who have a mortgage payment or even a $650 dollar rent payment per month. Drive a piece o crap car, maybe even not bother to insure it?? as long as you dont drive it out of the City limits so the suburb cops dont catch you... pipe in illegal cable... pay the minimum utilities till HEAP time! it can be done! If the hot water tank takes a dump just go steal one out of the abandoned house next door!

That is not what Jesus would do

[300miles]

And on toxic land no less!

Are you implying the land is not safe to live on?

[winfield31]

Are you implying the land is not safe to live on?

the land & subsurface soil was removed in its' entirety , then the 3-4 houses that were there (new builds) were taken down as they were stripped & not with the "new" plan for that area.....the soil issues were remediated & declared safe.............

[Michele J]

Many activists use Sickamore Village as our "display" on just how much properties are subsidized and how backwards it is to be building new houses when there are 20K+ vacant houses in the city and we are shrinking everyday...
Even HUD the biggest poverty pimp has refused to put any money into Sickamore Village because they were the original funders and are still owed millions.
It wasnt 4 houses built it was 3. The land was sold rather cheaply during a tax auction or foreclosure sale a few short years prior and then the city bought it for 4 or 5 times the amount it sold for( someone got rich)
3 BIG & Beautiful center entrance colonials amongst some small boxy newbuilds along Jefferson...go figure..
They were never completed because soil samples were not done prior to building MJPeterson the builder blames the city & the City blamed them.
The houses sat unfinished for years..ultimately we made a deal with MJPeterson and paid them off ( they owned the land and Sickamore Village could not of been built around them and the soil needed to be remediated)
So the city bought them for somewhere between 250-400k from MJPeterson and spent over 1.3 million to remediate the soil and about 25k to 30k to demolish the houses.
So... we have spent probably close to 2 million dollars.
Yes only a few houses will be "subsidized but I believe tax credits( empire zone etc) will be available.

Hey.. Maybe I should run for Mayor after all...

[winfield31]

Many activists use Sickamore Village as our "display" on just how much properties are subsidized and how backwards it is to be building new houses when there are 20K+ vacant houses in the city and we are shrinking everyday...
Even HUD the biggest poverty pimp has refused to put any money into Sickamore Village because they were the original funders and are still owed millions.
It wasnt 4 houses built it was 3. The land was sold rather cheaply during a tax auction or foreclosure sale a few short years prior and then the city bought it for 4 or 5 times the amount it sold for( someone got rich)
3 BIG & Beautiful center entrance colonials amongst some small boxy newbuilds along Jefferson...go figure..
They were never completed because soil samples were not done prior to building MJPeterson the builder blames the city & the City blamed them.
The houses sat unfinished for years..ultimately we made a deal with MJPeterson and paid them off ( they owned the land and Sickamore Village could not of been built around them and the soil needed to be remediated)
So the city bought them for somewhere between 250-400k from MJPeterson and spent over 1.3 million to remediate the soil and about 25k to 30k to demolish the houses.
So... we have spent probably close to 2 million dollars.
Yes only a few houses will be "subsidized but I believe tax credits( empire zone etc) will be available.

Hey.. Maybe I should run for Mayor after all...

good homework/research Michele............

[kernwatch]

To watch this scenario on the heels of the long-festering Hickory Woods fiasco in S Bflo feels as if Bflo never learns.

The biggest city tax auction of abandoned properties (currently 4580) in Bflo history looms on Oct 20-22, but this is how urgently needed housing funds are squandered, repeatedly.

http://artvoice.com/issues/v7n40/new...council_report

Minding the business of the people
• The controversial Sycamore Village project reported offers to buy its first six houses, at prices ranging from $201,765 to $212,348. If that sounds like a lot for a new-build at the corner of Sycamore and Jefferson, bear in mind that estimates of the cost to build each house range from $400,000 to $600,000 each. That high number is due to the cost of environmental remediation of the property, not to mention tearing down and landfilling the houses that had been built there prior to the remediation.

The Buffalo Urban Renewal Agency reports that nine of the 10 houses planned for the project’s first phase are near completion, and six of the nine houses in the second phase are likewsie close to finished. The third phase comprises six more houses, all priced similarly to those six that have received offers.

Before the sales can be approved, the Common Council must hold a public hearing That hearing takes place on October 14 at 2pm in Council Chambers.