Despite a disappointingly low appraisal, the Oxford Downtown Development Authority is hoping to find someone willing to pay at least $100,000 each for three vacant lots along E. Burdick St.
‘Having a price on it will maybe spur discussion with someone who may want to buy it,? said village President Chris Bishop, who sits on the DDA board.
Last week, the DDA unanimously decided to put the properties it owns at 32, 36 and 38 E. Burdick St. up for sale after receiving an appraisal for two of them.
According to the Rochester-based KRES, Inc., the vacant lots at 32 and 36 E. Burdick St. (a total of 7,841 square feet or 0.18 acre) are worth a combined $30,800 as of Aug. 23.
‘I betcha if you put ’em up for sale for that, we’d have ’em gone pretty quick,? Bishop quipped.
Officials were obviously disappointed by the low the appraisal and discussed what to do with the land in light of it.
DDA member Chuck Schneider wanted to investigate the feasibility of converting the lots into municipal parking.
‘We can put a fairly substantial amount of parking on there,? he said.
In light of the poor economic conditions, Bishop was an advocate of letting the lots sit vacant a while longer, then revisiting the issue at a later date.
‘Let it stay grass for a year,? he said. ‘Right now, we don’t need more parking. We don’t feel the market’s advantageous to sell it to get a good value for our dollar. Let’s sit on it for a year.?
The DDA has owned the E. Burdick St. properties for several years now.
In 2001, the authority purchased 32 E. Burdick St. for $175,000 and 38 E. Burdick St. for $215,000. It later bought 36 E. Burdick St. for $195,000 in August 2002.
All three properties had houses and backyards when the DDA purchased them.
Two of the houses were later moved while one was demolished. The backyards of all three were split off and used for municipal parking.
Mill St. separates 32 from 36 E. Burdick St., which is adjacent to 38 E. Burdick St.
All three lots are zoned commercial. Whoever develops them would be allowed to build from lot line-to-lot line and construct a building up to three stories high.
However, it was noted that no parking comes with the properties, so whoever develops them would either have to satisfy parking requirements by providing on-site parking or paying the village an in-lieu of amount of $6,000 per space or a combination of both.
DDA member Paul DePorre suggested selling the three properties as a ‘package? in which they could develop the two adjoining lots and put parking on the third across Mill St.
‘Really, for all practical purposes, nobody’s going to buy a single lot anyhow,? he said.
Ultimately, it was decided to put a sign up on the properties in the coming weeks with a sale price of $100,000 per lot.
DDA Chairman Mark Young said finally putting a price on the land will show ‘some forward movement, which I think needs to be done.?
‘I think you’re very ambitious at $100,000 a lot,? Schneider remarked.
‘We did receive offers on this property in the past ? significantly more than $100,000,? noted village Mgr. Joe Young.
Mark Young said about 3-4 years ago, the DDA was twice offered ? by the same person ? $500,000 for 36 and 38 E. Burdick, but that was before the lots? back-halves were split off to make more public parking.
At the time, Young said the DDA didn’t sell because it was unsure of what was going to happen with the reconstruction of the southeast parking lot and how the vacant land was going to fit into that plan.
‘There was a lot up in the air,? he explained. ‘We didn’t want to shoot ourselves in the foot and wish we hadn’t sold them.?