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New Land Bank gives green light to Binghamton property conversion

Matt Martin/WSKG

The freshly minted Broome County Land Bank is set to complete its first deal. The land bank has accepted a proposal to turn a vacant hotel in Downtown Binghamton into apartment buildings.

The aged hotel on the banks of the Chenango River was acquired by the land bank through tax foreclosure in 2011. The six-story building has been empty ever since, but that all might be changing soon.

Vestal-based Newman Development Group LLC wants to buy the property and develop it into a mixed-use residential and commercial space.

The executive director of the land bank, Stacey Duncan, says the proposal targets young professionals and empty nesters.

“I think it is meant to attract and serve as a catalyst for some urban living opportunities, which seems to fit well with what we’re seeing in the cities draft comprehensive plan about urban living, walk able communities,” says Duncan. 

The developers plan to tear the building down and build 100 to 125 new apartments with some commercial space.

The land bank’s board of directors still has to give final approval of the project at their next meeting on May 27. It was the only proposal the land bank received for the property.

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