|
Significant Improvements Underway on Orchard Street
In the 35 years she has lived on Orchard Street, Arlene Ryan has seen a lot of changes to the neighborhood. “This used to be a mostly Italian neighborhood,” Ryan said as she looked down her street at a row of deteriorating houses that were split into apartments years ago. “It was mostly single families and everyone knew each other.”
Now, Ryan, a member of the Orchard Street Neighborhood Association, hopes the street is on the verge of another change, back toward the neighborhood she once knew. In late August, there was an open house for prospective buyers at 29 Orchard St., after the house was completely rehabilitated by a coalition of area organizations.
“We choose some of the worst houses in the city and then rehabilitate them and sell them to low-income single families,” Tim Hodson, of the Cayuga County Homesite Development Corporation, Inc., said as he stood in the kitchen of the newly renovated home. “This house is part of an ongoing project we have to rehab several of the properties in this neighborhood to improve the city overall.”
According to Tom Falicchio, the executive director of Homsite Development, the Orchard Street area was chosen by the nonprofit organization as having “good potential for rehabilitation.”
In conjunction with the City of Auburn, the Allyn Foundation, the Cayuga/Seneca Community Action Agency and Home HeadQuarters, Inc., of Syracuse, Homsite Development purchased four houses at the intersection of Orchard and Washington Streets and began the rehabilitation process.
House number 29 was gutted to the framework and rebuilt. “It’s got new wiring, plumbing, heating and duct work, insulation, windows, walls, flooring and roofing,” Homsite project manager John Greer said.
“We did the best we could to make it into a sellable house.” The house is currently on sale through Lake Country Real Estate, Inc., for the asking price of $72,000.
Midge Fricano, the owner of the real estate agency, said the open house drew some interest from buyers. Fricano will continue to show the house to additional families.
To ensure that the house benefits a low-income family, prospective buyers are asked to verify their incomes before making an offer on the property. Falicchio said making the change from divided multiple-family residences back to single-family homes is beneficial to the entire neighborhood.
“When we put up these new single-family houses, it raises the property values for everyone else on the street,” he said. “We can’t purchase and rehabilitate every house on the street, but we hope that people who live here will see its improving and those that can afford to will do what they can to improve their own houses.”
The three properties purchased next door to 29 Orchard were torn down after being purchased. Two new houses will be built in their place, to allow them to be spaced farther apart. Sitting in the dining room of the rehabilitated home, Ryan smiled as she looked around the house at the new paint and woodwork.
“This is a big step forward,” she said. “You really feel you’re at home here. It’s been a lot of work, but I think we’re really moving forward in this neighborhood.”
Provided by The Citizen
|
