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Date: 2/8/2022
HOLYOKE – A collaboration of private businesses and city departments recently touted its advances in addressing Holyoke’s issues with vacancy and blight
Holyoke’s Property Preservation Group (PPG) released its first five-year report on Feb. 1, outlining the progress it had made in making the city a safer and more attractive place to live since it began meeting once a month in December 2015. Holyoke’s Mayor’s Office, Board of Health, Building Department, Department of Public Works, Fire Department, Law Department, the Office of Planning and Economic Development and the Office of Community Development partnered with Virgilio Property Management and One Holyoke CDC to comprise the PPG.
“It was recognized that many departments in the city were working on the same issues faced by the local government. The various departments had no structured or organized way to work together in these problems … The silos these departments have historically worked in have since been removed,” Building Commissioner Damien Cote said in his statement that accompanied the report. He also noted the group “worked with and partnered with many local businesses.”
According to Cote, 74 properties were identified as significantly unsafe, vacant, and blighted properties by the city in 2010 and some had been flagged by one department or another for 25 years. At the time of the report, 60 of those 74 problem properties had been addressed and their issues “fully resolved” by the PPG.
“I believe the PPG is a tremendous asset to the city. As a property manager I have learned from experience that the sooner problems are recognized and addressed the less time and money it will take to fix them. The early identification of problem properties reduces liability and reduces the cost of resolving issues. The PPG is instrumental in this process. This not only saves potential losses but gains the city tax revenue all while preserving the housing base. It’s a win-win-win,” Virgilio Property Management President Gregory M. Virgilio said in the prepared statement.
Michael J. Moriarty, executive director of OneHolyoke CDC added, “Restoring vacant and blighted properties is a critical quality of life cations step. It requires a team effort to manage all of the legal, regulatory and fiscal issues abandonment create. The Property Preservation Group is that crucial team; community housing organizations like OneHolyoke CDC can’t do our work without such support.”
The group noted in the report that the progress has been realized without the need for additional budget funding, which would come at the expense of taxpayers.
All told, the city has used various means to address concerns, ranging from rehabilitation by either current owners or banks, demolition, sale to a third party and, as a last resort receivership.
“Since 2015, 110 residential homes have undergone an in-depth code enforcement process via the Board of Health to resolve substantial housing code issues. These properties required administrative time, effort and attention above and beyond the typical code enforcement protocols and methods that are used in a standard housing code complaint. Resolution was most often reached through the use of either receivership, court supervised sale for private rehabilitation, or demolition,” the report reads.
A graphic within the report, which the group noted was not reflective of all properties, illustrated the outcomes of 104 cases. The majority (49) resulted in third party sale while an additional 23 went into receivership. Sixteen were demolished and were rehabilitated by the owner or under bank supervision.
In the 13-page report, the group cited specific examples of success. Among them were a two family home at 47 Chapin St., which was taken by the city in response to $36,691 in back taxes in 2014. After years of management and an unsuccessful attempt by the city to auction it off, the Office of Planning and Economic Development successfully sold the property through a request for proposals for $10,000. After extensive renovations, the new owner sold the property in 2021 for $275,000. According to the PPG, the assessed value of the home jumped from $112,000 in 2014 to its current $240,000 and the property now contributes $4,600 annually.
In another example, the PPG cited an abandoned lot with a foundation at 230 Beech St. that had received complaints since 2011. In 2015, the city completed a tax taking on the property and referred it to the Office of Community Development and One Holyoke CDC. The latter purchased the land for $2,000 and built a new two-family home on the existing foundation, which sold for $160,000 and contributes nearly $5,000 to the city.
Virgilio Property Management has also actively renovated a formerly vacant five-story apartment building at 185 Pine St. that had been deemed unsafe by the building department in 2007. Deemed vacant in 2011, the city finally made progress in making the building safe and habitable in 2015 by taking down the porches on the rear of the building and then selling it to Virgilio for rehabilitation.
A link to the full report is available at https://www.holyoke.org/holyoke-property-preservation-group-releases-its-first-5-year-report/.