ALBANY — The most fortunate building in Albany might be the structure at the corner of Second Avenue and Odell Street in the city’s South End.
The vacant and dilapidated building, built in 1900 and assessed at $70,000, is set to be rehabbed with a $1 million federal grant received by the Albany County Land Bank. When construction is complete, the Land Bank intends to sell the building, which will then include a three-bedroom apartment unit and a studio apartment, to a first-time buyer.
“We’re spending $1 million on one house?” county Legislator Paul Burgdorf, a Republican from Latham, asked during a recent committee meeting. “Something is wrong with the process.”
It isn’t entirely accurate to say that the construction costs will equal $1 million. Administrative costs have already consumed some of the grant money, and the Land Bank hopes there’ll be money left over when the rehab is done.
Still, in a city loaded with vacant and decaying homes, it is worth questioning why this one structure, in particular, is rising to the top. Is there a reason it’s especially worthy of investment?
Well, the home does sit within the South End-Groesbeckville Historic District and will no doubt look terrific when the work ends. But the structure at 50 Second Ave. is largely unremarkable in a city of older buildings. It has a brick exterior, a bay window and what appears to be a converted storefront on its ground floor. An attached home is also vacant.
Given the neighborhood’s depressed market, the Land Bank expects the home will sell for about $175,000 when the work is done. You don’t need to be a mathematician to figure out that’s far below the planned investment.
This isn’t how the Land Bank initially planned things. When Albany County first received the Community Development Block Grant Cares Act funding, the plan called for using $1 million to renovate…
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