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YORKTOWN, N.Y. A deteriorating house on Route 132 was sold by the town Wednesday to a buyer who plans on restoring the nearly two-century old building into a possible affordable housing site.
This is a tremendous opportunity for me, to not only undertake an old house and restore it, but to give back to the Yorktown community, said buyer Mark Franzoso. Yorktowns been very supportive to my business over the years and its a way to say thank you.
Franzoso bought the seven-acre property for $170,000. He said his company, Franzoso Contracting, will restore the three-bedroom building within the year and could rent it out to a single family below market price.
It would be very simple to come in as a contractor and builder and tear it down and put up another new structure, but thats not what I want to do, he said. Im going to subdivide it and get a building lot out of the other side.
Supervisor Michael Grace said the house, called the Adams-Bernstein House, was built in the 1830s and given to the town about 20 years ago to preserve as a historic monument for a 10-year period.
After that 10 years the deed expired and it was up to the town to do something, Grace said. Unfortunately, what happens sometimes when governments hold on to things, is they deteriorate. Were very glad that we found a buyer by marketing the place instead of going out to auction.
Grace said he viewed the sale as a symbolic first step the town was taking to move Yorktown forward and live up to its motto of Progress with Preservation. He also mentioned possible zoning changes as a way of making the town more pedestrian friendly and more productive.
Were looking particularly at parking requirements because we think we over-exact parking requirements for the sake of building and landscaping and historical monuments, Grace said. Were moving towards that.
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