GENEVA \u2014 A housing project that proved challenging is close to completion and ready for an open house Thursday.<\/p>\n
Developers Dave Linger and Wendy Marsh are unveiling the Granary Apartments at 36 Middle St. May 28 following a 3 p.m. ribbon-cutting ceremony. Tours of nine newly created apartments follow until 5:30 p.m.<\/p>\n
The building formerly served as a grain elevator and storage facility and had fallen into disrepair. It was last used by a moving company about 15 years ago, Linger said.<\/p>\n
A $960,000 Empire State Development Restore New York grant made the $1.7 million project feasible, he noted. Linger explained that Round 6 of the program targeted preserving, rehabilitating and putting back into service structures in danger of \u201cdemolition by neglect.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said he\u2019s been interested in the property for more than a decade. There are a number of vacant buildings along Middle Street, and he\u2019s hoping this project can lead to more investment, adding that a number of homeowners on Middle Street maintain and take pride in their properties.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been drawn to this building for a long time,\u201d he said, adding that work on the project started last August. \u201cIt\u2019s gratifying to place the property back into service. If it wasn\u2019t for the grant assistance from ESD, we couldn\u2019t have pulled this off.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marsh has some personal affection for the development; she grew up in the area, which is in Ward 6.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrankly, this building is a little out of our comfort zone,\u201d she said. \u201cWe generally stick to downtown buildings. Having grown up in this area of the city, it\u2019s great to get some economic development in this residential area that has long been neglected. We hope that others follow our lead and invest in this part of our community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Four apartments are reserved for people with 30% to 80% of the area\u2019s median income, with rents starting at $875 a month for a one-bedroom unit, plus utilities.<\/p>\n
There are eight one-bedroom apartments and one two-bedroom unit. Seven of the units are in the one-story space that was gutted \u2014 along with a new roof \u2014 while two others are in the former grain tower section.<\/p>\n
The upper-level unit in the tower features an open-space concept with a 30-foot-high ceiling. The units in the tower also feature hardwood floors. The others feature epoxy surfaces, Linger said.<\/p>\n
All the apartments include stainless steel appliances and countertops, while two have laundry facilities. There is an on-site laundry as well.<\/p>\n
The two-bedroom apartment, along with a one-bedroom, already have been rented, Linger said.<\/p>\n
City Manager Amie Hendrix lauded the Granary Apartments development.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis project shows what\u2019s possible when public investment, local partnership, and long-term commitment to the community come together to bring new life to an important property,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Marsh and Linger have completed a number of rehabilitation projects over the past 20 years. They said the Granary Apartments are \u201can example of state and local government working together with a private partner to create something the community needs \u2014 affordable housing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Besides the ESD grant, Granary was funded with private capital and financing by Lyons National Bank, they said, adding that they didn\u2019t seek any tax breaks.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s important to note that we have never requested or received a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement,\u201d Linger said. \u201cThe Granary Apartments, like all the buildings we own and manage, pay taxes on their full assessed value.\u201d<\/p>\n
Linger and Marsh also have purchased adjacent property owned by the city for parking. They also are planning to raze a dilapidated, vacant home next to the apartments, although that effort is mired in some legal issues, Linger said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GENEVA \u2014 A housing project that proved challenging is close to completion and ready for an open house…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":73494,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[7],"tags":[38820,1208,16076,39,65,38821,8839,12961,38819],"class_list":["post-73493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-geneva","tag-apartment","tag-architecture","tag-buildings-and-structures","tag-economy","tag-geneva","tag-granary","tag-home","tag-housing","tag-residential-buildings"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/116652115588767148","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73493"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73493\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}