Schenectady County, N.Y. — The Capital Region Land Bank has issued a bid to demolish 11 vacant properties in the City of Schenectady.  Bids are due back to the Land Bank on July 23rd no later than 10:00 am.

“The Land Bank is pleased to move forward with 11 more demolitions. These are all city-owned properties that are beyond salvage.  All were carefully evaluated for potential re-use before the decision was made to demolish them. Taking these blighted, vacant structures down improves the neighborhood and reduces the city’s cost to maintain vacant properties,” said Richard Ruzzo, Chairman of the Capital Region Land Bank and a member of the Schenectady County Legislature.

The 11 properties are located in Mt. Pleasant and on the city’s Northside:

1568 Van Vranken Ave
625 Crane St
702 Crane St
1002 Crane St
16 Jefferson St
602 Hattie St
1213 First Ave
1520 Fifth Ave
1227 Sixth Ave
1336 Eighth Ave
602 Orchard St

The three properties on Crane Street were selected with input from the neighborhood.  The building at 1002 Crane Street slated for demolition was damaged by fire and is just two doors down from the new Mt. Pleasant Library. The properties on First Avenue and on Orchard Street were selected because they are near Orchard Park, which the city is renovating. The demolitions on Hattie Street and Van Vranken were chosen to continue the progress in the Northside of the city.

The Land Bank is administered by Metroplex as part of Schenectady County’s unified economic development team.  The funding for this latest round of demolitions was provided by Enterprise Community Partners.