Chemung County’s Secret And Wasteful Purchase Of Building At 150 Lake Street

[Jim 13]

Chemung County recently bought a downtown building at 150 Lake St. The sale is shrouded in mystery. 

After a meeting of the CC Legislature in early May, I listened to a discussion between an Elmira businessman and Legislator Margeson. The businessman was upset that someone who had a plan in hand for the building’s use had offered to buy the building for about $600,000, the approximate asking price, and that the County, with no set budget for such a purchase and no plan for its use, then offered and bought it for a million dollars, thus taking it off the tax rolls. Apparently, the County then made the building available to several governmental offices, which turned it down.

According to Mr. Margeson, there were originally 2 purchase offers, one of approximately $1,100,000–he couldn’t remember exactly–and the other, the County’s bid. He claimed that the offer of $600,000 came later. Curiously, he also couldn’t remember the name of the 1.1 million bidder. As for the seller, he knew that the person was a former resident of Elmira who now lived in Florida and still had family in the Elmira area, but he couldn’t remember his name either.

It seemed inconceivable to me and to the businessman, whose understanding of the sale’s chronology was the opposite of what Mr. Margeson outlined, that someone would make an offer $400,000 lower than the 2 million-dollar bids already being considered. And if Mr. Margeson’s account was accurate, why would the County offer $1,000,000 when the asking price was $600,000? It also seemed odd that the seller would refuse an offer higher than the County’s.

Mr. Margeson declared that the County was currently considering how it might use the building. Wonder why they didn’t think about that before buying it? Also, if they are thinking of using it, why have there been large “For Lease” signs outside the building ever since? You’ve got to wonder if this sale is a classic case of “follow the money.”

[JustAGuy 12]

Lol. Who trusts anything with these guys. How can you not recall the name of an interested party? Looks like the county is looking to make any buck they can now. Look at the arena. They only just figured out how to make it a tax write off for themselves. Would have to wonder why a dude living in Florida would want to own a building here that he wouldn't be near often if at all....all strange. 

[MsKreed 1,182]

I think transparency and accountability are very important....and egregiously lacking in local government (and at all levels).

I tend to feel that there usually more issues of evasive, vague, incomplete and/or ambiguous communication with informal discussion. It doesn't help that we have fewer and fewer local journalists with the initiative to pursue "on the record" facts, names and dollar figures. 

I’d like to give Margeson the benefit of the doubt that he did not want to name the various parties in an informal conversation after a meeting in case his memory was unsure and wouldn’t want to mix or conflate names and bid amounts “off the top of his head”.

I generally try to follow up extemporaneous chats like this with a more formal communication (email/letter, etc) that directly addresses the details and requesting specific information.  

 

If someone followed up by emailing/contacting him directly and he still couldn't provide the names and numbers (after verifying his data), then that’s certainly a problem. And that formal communication would be a documented starting point to build upon when/if questions persist or need to be escalated.

[Adam 373]

cannot speak much to any potential/alleged shadiness but i did ask a while back about the room situation. As it was told to me: Marine midland is an ideal location because it is newer than many of the current areas housing various departments. one example was the evidence locker at CCSD. it cannot safely(paraphrasing) contain all that is there whereas the bank has a large and very secure manner of storing the ever-growing inventory. while i would be concerned about another building coming off the tax rolls; i would imagine buying THIS building and moving multiple departments there would be much cheaper than trying to renovate/expand the current "homes"

[Jim 13]

MsKreed,

I wrote to Mr. Margeson. He refused to answer me. Also, why would he know the family members of the Florida seller and not the seller? Why pay 1 million when the asking price was about 600,000? And on and on. There are too many unanswered questions. I believe in transparency and accountability... I say check back pockets.

[TTL News 308]

Moved to "Local News" section, as it isn't so much about politics as local issues. 

[Adam 373]

i would suppose its a fair question deserving of an answer: IF the asking price was 600k, why did county taxpayers pay 1 million?