Posted on: June 30, 2021
Source: Times Telegram; Author: Donna Thompson
The former Duofold property in Ilion has been sold.
The Ilion village board Monday approved the sale of the property, which has been vacant for nearly two decades, to some local investors for $100,000, according to Mayor Brian Lamica.
The identity of the new owners and their plans for the site are not being released at this point, the mayor said, adding, “They have 120 days to review everything.”
He expects the closing on the property to occur within a few weeks.
“The investors seem to be gung ho,” he said.
The village of Ilion purchased the property at 7 Spruce St. from Ilion Properties LLC, based in Natick, Massachusetts, in March 2019 for what was described as a nominal fee. The Herkimer County Industrial Development Agency has been working with the village since then toward cleaning up and redeveloping the site.
“We decided to take a chance,” said Lamica. “It’s another thing off our checklist.”
He said when he campaigned for mayor, he heard from people who wanted to see something done with the vacant Duofold property and also see the village’s water problems resolved.
IDA Executive Director John Piseck pitched the site to potential developers during meetings in Albany and in California and showed the property to several who were interested.
While he could not discuss the investors’ plans for the property yet, Lamica said, “We’ve been working with the IDA and their crew. John (Piseck) knows what the village is looking for and what we’re not looking for.”
The sale will be good news for residents who live near the property, he said.
“They’ve been looking at that eyesore for years. Now there’s light at the end of the tunnel,” he said.
An attorney for Ilion Properties LLC had contacted village officials several years ago to see if they were interested in the property; they were hesitant about purchasing a contaminated property without knowing the remediation costs.
Piseck said during a recent meeting to discuss brownfields that he initially thought all the buildings on the Duofold site should be razed, but after a structural engineer checked it out and reported the main building had “good bones,” he became interested in seeing the property redeveloped.
He noted its proximity to routes 5 and 5S, the New York State Thruway and the Erie Canal and canalway trail, as well as the availability of municipal electricity and high-speed Internet service among its selling points.
Environmental studies were completed, and Piseck enlisted the help of Eisenstein Malanchuk LLP, a Washington, D.C., law firm, which is working on a contingency fee basis to recover funds for environmental cleanup from those responsible for the contamination.
Unisys, a global information technology company now headquartered in Pennsylvania, traces its history back to the Ilion site and could still be held responsible for the contamination, according to Piseck.
The Herkimer County IDA website describes the Duofold site as 10.7-acre brownfield site that contains four abandoned buildings, each constructed in the 1940s, a maintenance garage and a former coal/oil powerhouse, a 1-million-gallon water reservoir used for fire suppression located under the main plant, roadways and foundations of former structures. The factory complex has been selected for the National Register of Historic Places.
Read the full article here.
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