Building Collapse In Elmira Renews Plans To Address "Zombie Properties," Absentee Landlords

[TTL News 308]

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A vacant mixed-use building collapsed in Elmira on S. Main Street earlier this month.

The two-story building was in-between three open businesses: Anne’s Pancakes, MarShell’s restaurant and Georould’s Pharmacy Center and one other vacant, mixed-use building. Anne’s Pancakes, a neighborhood favorite, was separated from the crumbling property by a narrow alleyway.

Although it had to close down for a day, Elmira Mayor Dan Mandell said the people who were at Anne’s Pancakes when the building fell were safe. Marcus Page of MarShell’s restaurant said nobody was in their business during the collapse because they are a dinner-only eatery, however they lost a day’s worth of business.

Mandell explained there are similar vacant properties in the city that often go through several owners who purchase them at auction and are left unattended.

“They'll purchase them and then they'll find out what they bought,” said Mandell. “And [you know,] a lot of times we have to go in and code gets a hold of them, cites them and at some point they realize they bought a dead horse and it goes back onto the auction again. They foreclose on the property and the county picks it up and it's sold back on the auction.”

 

Read the rest here.

[Chris 2,162]

It seems as if for so long, so much attention has been paid to Downtown Elmira, that the rest of the city outside that small area has been forgotten and neglected. 

I drive all over the city on a daily basis and the amount of burned out houses that remain standing, long after the initial fire, is apalling. That's in addition to the other abaandoned and boarded up houses.