Yonkers Officials Rounding Up Foreclosed Properties For Resale
YONKERS, N.Y. (CBSNewYork)-- First Brooklyn, then Hoboken, and now Yonkers.
Officials in Yonkers are rounding up foreclosed properties for resale and predicting a brisk market.
Along the Yonkers waterfront, you can see the activity within sight of the bigger city downriver, a redevelopment pressure that has city hall looking closely at the map of their town.
"The bottom line is we will no longer let tax deadbeats go," Mayor Mike Spano told CBS2's Lou Young.
A whole range of Yonkers properties are about to go on the auction block, the city taking them for back taxes and offering them to new buyers. This is the first time that's happened in a decade.
"There's been a lot of development in the city and a lot of young people coming to work, shop, and play. We're talking in the millions and we are talking about 200 properties," said Michael Curti, Yonkers Corporation Counsel.
The vast majority of the properties on the acquisition list are vacant lots, but many also have structures on them; houses and businesses. It can be legally expensive and time consuming for the city to take possession of these properties, but with the turnaround in the economy, city officials believe it's worth their while.
Young residents see the wisdom of it, close enough to the big city and just far enough away with easy access to mass transit. Some properties are a stone's throw away from the New York City line.
"You have the subway, which is just a bus ride away, and you have a very friendly, family oriented environment here... I have multiple friends here; it's a great place to live," Yonkers resident Kai Shizzali told CBS2.
It's still a work in progress, but the properties going out to auction next month are being offered as something to work with. Foreclosed properties that are not purchased privately will be retained by the city. Some will be used as seed parcels for parks and at least one new school.
