The Broome County Land Bank (BCLB) acquired 3 King Avenue in late 2018 from Broome County’s property tax foreclosure list. Initially, BCLB had intended to rehabilitate this property as a single-family home using Community Revitalization Initiative funds made available by the NYS AG’s Office. Due to a high total development cost estimate, however, BCLB decided to solicit proposals from private developers to rehabilitate the property as a two-family rental property.

A Request for Proposals was issued in late 2020 for the Purchase and Development of 3 King Avenue on the City of Binghamton’s West Side with an optional $75,000 development incentive. The Land Bank received a proposal from the Managing Member of Vision Build Holdings Binghamton LLC, Bob Chan. He and his team had proposed to rehabilitate the existing structure as a two-family rental property and opted for the development incentive.

The Land Bank entered into several development agreements with Vision Build Holdings Binghamton, LLC to transform the once vacant property into two, move-in ready rental units. The $75,000 development incentive that Mr. Chan opted for subsidized a portion of the construction costs in exchange for agreeing to keep one unit available at affordable rents as defined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for the Binghamton area. The one affordable unit must be maintained for ten years per a deed restriction attached to the sale of the property from BCLB to the developer. BCLB partnered with The SEPP Group to assist in managing the phases of construction proposed by Mr. Chan. The Land Bank managed the income verification and affordability analyses for the proposed tenant of the restricted unit.

Completed in the summer of 2021, the project’s total cost was approximately $333,000. Although the affordability requirement applied to only one unit, Mr. Chan voluntarily decided to rent both units to very low-income families, addressing a significant need in the area’s rental housing market.

Both tenants are pleased to have found quality affordable housing and love their new homes, and the rental property—the first for BCLB—proved to be a huge success.