A post by "Dizzy Rascal" on the Hudson Area Community Board Facebook page tipped me off to this. According to Zillow, the building at 7-9 South Seventh Street is now for sale.
This building was purchased by The Spark of Hudson in 2022 from the legendary slum lord Phil Gellert. It was one of six buildings purchased from Gellert by The Spark of Hudson, and one of twelve buildings that were part of the HudsonDots program. Why that plan for the building was abandoned and the building is now for sale is not known.
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The red sign on the door on the left is an OTV, or Order To Vacate Dangerous and Unsafe Building, put there by Code Enforcement last year after the response to a small fire found the interior to be a complete mess full of dangerous code violations. Spark, indeed! And no surprise there, given Gellert owned it. The Spark probably finally came to the conclusion that fixing the place is no longer worth their time or money. The fact that they bought it in the first place is nuts. Good luck selling it and not losing money on that investment.
ReplyDeleteMy guess is that since the OTV sign is still posted on the building that the Spark has not fixed the code violations that Craig Haigh discovered only after the fire, the violations the Spark is supposedly required to remedy to make their building code compliant. Unfortunately, there are numerous examples of our Code Enforcement not enforcing their own OTV's and OTR's (Order To Remedy) issued to property owners who own dangerous, neglected eyesores we need fewer of. The two houses owned by Galvan at 614 State (next to the county building that will soon be vacated) are perfect examples as well. OTV's were issued for both neglected structures. And what did we get 6 years later? NO TRESPASSING signs on a lovely chain link fence around the eyesore "house" in front to keep the homeless out who had been getting inside two years ago! The world and the neighborhood might be better off if those houses were to burn to the ground. Galvan sure wouldn't mind, and it might lighten Code Enforcement's load (or at least get a file thrown in the trash). Does a property without a house on it pay less in taxes than that same property with a house on it? I sure hope so!