Properties get attention to add to housing stock
By Tim Rowland
Two dilapidated North Country properties that housing advocates believe can be reborn as affordable housing made progress Thursday, as state, regional and local officials continue to test creative approaches for spinning blight into attractive, comfortable homes.
In Tupper Lake, the Northern Forest Center and friends broke ground on what will become a nine-unit apartment building at the site of the former Plaza Hotel, which the organization purchased two years ago as part of Tupper Lake’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative.
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The center initially planned to rehabilitate the building but eventually calculated that it was too far gone to save. The Plaza will be demolished in coming weeks and a new, $4 million complex will take its place. The project also includes a single-family home next door, which will be rehabilitated and turned into affordable housing as well.
“We’re entering the visible stage of this project,” said Leslie Karasin, Adirondack program manager for the center. “We’re going to see things start to happen soon.”
In the town of Jay meanwhile, board members held a public hearing on an $88,000 grant project to demolish a blighted house on Rt. 9N north of the hamlet of Jay. The property will then be added to the Essex County Land Bank, which will redevelop the property at some point in the future.
“Workforce housing is the goal,” said Katie Long, grant program manager for the North Country Rural Development Coalition, which is administering the funding for the town. “These communities need economic development, but you can’t have economic development if there’s no place for the workers to live.”
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Both projects will be calibrated to local standards of affordability and will be restricted to long-term occupants.
The Essex County Land Bank was established in 2023, and its first affordable housing project, located in Upper Jay, is nearing completion, with several others in the works.
Supervisor Matt Stanley said the Jay property had been purchased at a tax sale, but the new owner was unable to make improvements. This building as well was too far gone to save. “A snowflake would knock it down,” Stanley said. “When our code inspector went in he fell through the stairs.”
With the property so far gone, the owner decided it was to his advantage to hand it over to the town and walk away, Stanley said.
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Surveys have indicated a strong public interest in rehabilitating blighted properties as a solution to North Country housing shortages, but the reality is that once maintenance is deferred they can quickly deteriorate to a point of no return, said Aaron Roth, branch manager of KAS environmental sciences and engineering, who worked on the Tupper project.
“A lot of North Country towns have buildings that have been sitting (empty) for a long time,” he said. “If you defer maintenance over an extended period of time it can easily get ahead of you.”
The Plaza was also filled with asbestos, which adds another layer of complexity and cost.
The Northern Forest Center and Tupper partisans hope attractive new construction will be a turning point for the neighborhood, which has several properties in disrepair. The model has worked in Lancaster, N.H., and Millinocket, Maine, where NFC Board Member Ross Whaley said neighboring properties are being fixed up by private investors.
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The Millinocket project is exciting, he said, “But you know what’s more exciting? What’s happening next door and what’s happening across the street. Northern Forest Center is doing something where you’re going to see a difference.”
Amanda LaScala, who with her husband Ron, sold the properties to NFC at a considerable discount to what they had been offered by a private developer, agreed the project has the potential to change the face of the neighborhood.
“This is really going to change the way people look at this area,” she said. “It will show that you can make things better.”
Officials in both Tupper Lake and Jay said they hope their projects can be a model for sidestepping what’s become a considerable roadblock for affordable housing projects in the Adirondacks.
Buildable lots are at a premium in the Adirondacks, but a considerable number of these lots are occupied by vacant structures that need to be torn down before new housing can go up. But the cost of that demolition, which can be considerable, particularly if asbestos is involved, typically makes redevelopment unaffordable.
But Steve Hunt, regional director of Empire State Development, said that with new streams of state money, including Downtown Revitalization Initiative and Restore NY grants, now on the table, some of these projects can move forward.
“Some of these dreams can happen,” LaScala said. “We’re going to have a real sense of pride when we drive by here.”
Photo at top: Damage to the Tupper Lake’s old Plaza Hotel is too far gone to be saved. Photo by Tim Rowland
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