The Greater Syracuse Land Bank has torn down its first house. Crews demolished a vacant home just off South Salina Street on Syracuse’s Southside Monday, after the land bank determined it was deteriorated beyond repair.
It’s the first of 25 properties slated for demolition this year, by the organization that buys dilapidated properties and either rehabs them or tears them down. The idea is to deal with properties that are a drag on neighborhoods and magnets for crime.
Greater Syracuse Land Bank Executive Director Katelyn Wright says the properties being demolished “have no potential for renovation and detract from surrounding property values and abandoned neighborhoods."