The New York State Office of Storm Recovery (“OSR”) has announced that the last major auction of properties damaged by Superstorm Sandy, Hurricane Irene, or Tropical Storm Lee will take place on Thursday, May 11.
The 82 properties to be auctioned – mostly single-family homes – are located on Staten Island, Brooklyn, and Queens in New York City, Suffolk and Nassau counties on Long Island, and in Tioga and Schoharie counties upstate.
To date, the OSR has sold 384 homes for redevelopment, raising more than $58.3 million to be used for storm-related infrastructure and home repair programs.
“Through the N.Y. Rising Acquisition Program, we can offer properties at a fraction of their pre-storm value, enabling prospective purchasers to rehabilitate and elevate these homes, which in turn, improves the resiliency of the housing stock in the state's most vulnerable communities,” said the executive director of the OSR, Lisa Bova-Hiatt. “Our first three auctions were enormously successful: in a relatively short period of time we have transferred more than 384 homes to new owners. Nearly 230 of those have already started or completed reconstruction. We are excited that this final major auction will complete an important phase of New York's ongoing housing recovery process, while adhering to Governor Cuomo's vision of building our communities back stronger than before.”
RuthAnne Visnauskas, the commissioner of New York State Homes and Community Renewal (“HCR”), added, “Not only are these home sales benefitting the sellers and the buyers, but they are helping communities to flourish while becoming more resilient. As Governor Cuomo has said, we all deserve to have safe and decent homes that we can afford in neighborhoods that provide a stable social infrastructure that allows our families to flourish. The N.Y. Rising Acquisition Program, in partnership with HCR, is making that a reality.”
In all cases, redevelopment must be consistent with local use and zoning regulations and must be completed − as evidenced by a final certificate of occupancy (or letter of completion, if applicable) from the local building department – within three years from the date of the closing. In the case that these conditions are not met, the property will revert to New York's Housing Trust Fund Corporation (“HTFC”).
To date, the auctions have raised a total of $58.3 million, which is returned to the N.Y. Rising portfolio of programs to rebuild homes and repair infrastructure. In May and November 2015, the OSR held its first and second Long Island auctions, selling 282 homes for over $40.5 million. In May 2016, at the OSR's third auction, 49 Long Island homes, 51 New York City homes, and two upstate homes sold, bringing in a total of nearly $17.9 million.
At present, the OSR said in a statement, the purchasers have closed on the homes, and nearly 60 percent are well into redevelopment. Each of the auction events, managed by Paramount Realty USA (“PRUSA”) − a specialty firm that represents owners in the marketing and sale of real estate by auction − drew hundreds of attendees, including major area and regional builders and developers, as well as local contractors and families seeking to build new homes for themselves.
The 82 properties are primarily single-family homes, as well as two-family homes and land parcels. The properties to be auctioned had pre-storm values ranging from approximately $840,000 to $136,000 with 47 of the homes in Staten Island, four in Queens, and three in Brooklyn, 13 in Nassau County, 12 in Suffolk County, and three upstate properties in Tioga and Schoharie counties. Sales at auction will be subject to minimum bids as low as about $3,000.
In all, homes are in Brighton Beach and Gerritsen Beach, Brooklyn; Arverne and Howard Beach, Queens; Dongan Hills, Eltingville, Great Kills, Midland Beach, New Dorp Beach, Oakwood Beach, South Beach, and Tottenville, Staten Island; Howes Cave, Tioga Center, and Sloansville, upstate; and Amityville, Babylon, Baldwin, Copiague, East Rockaway, Freeport, Gilgo Beach, Island Park, Lindenhurst, Long Beach, Massapequa, Oceanside, and Seaford, Long Island.
Bidders interested in participating in the auctions must purchase (for $50) access to due diligence information from PRUSA at http://www.prusa.com/auctions/80-new-york-properties/; the materials include appraisals, surveys, title reports, photographs, terms of sale, and a copy of the purchase and sale agreement that winning bidders will sign at the auction. Bidders must bring to the auction certified or cashier's checks in the amount of $25,000 – one check for each property they wish to purchase.
The N.Y. Rising Acquisition Program was created by the OSR to offer individual homeowners whose property is in the floodplain and suffered substantial damage the opportunity to sell their homes to the OSR to be auctioned for redevelopment and elevation.
Prospective auction bidders will be able to inspect most properties prior to the auction during scheduled open houses to be held from April 20 – 21 and April 24 – 26. The auction will be held at the Hilton New York JFK Airport, 144-02 135th Ave, Jamaica, NY 11436. Registration starts at 9 a.m. and the auction is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m.
Established in June 2013, the OSR coordinates statewide recovery efforts for Superstorm Sandy, Hurricane Irene, and Tropical Storm Lee.
Learn more: www.prusa.com; http://stormrecovery.ny.gov/.
Victoria Spears
Victoria Prussen Spears is senior vice president of Meyerowitz Communications Inc., a law firm marketing communications consulting company. A graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and Brooklyn Law School, Ms. Spears was an attorney at a leading New York City law firm before joining Meyerowitz Communications. She may be contacted at [email protected].