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The former APEX tool site on Cortland’s East side has been sold to the Cortland County Industrial Development Agency with two firms scheduled to begin cleanup work on the property.
The site was abandoned after a Pennsylvania company left town after demolishing the building for valuable materials then leaving rubble, trash, and demolition materials scattered throughout the 9-acre property.
“The site is a mess and people have been living with it for long enough,” said IDA Executive Director and CEO Garry L. VanGorder. “This is the fastest and most economically sensible route to a solution, and at the same time we’re very optimistic about what the future holds for the property. There is a lot of potential given its zoning, proximity to the interstate, and access to municipal utilities.”
The IDA purchased the property from Complete Property Services in New Kingston, PA after the company was not planning to finish the cleanup. A municipal foreclosure on the property would’ve also been time consuming and costly for local taxpayers.
With the purchase of the property, clean up, and other related expenses the price is estimated to be near $400,000 dollars.
The City of Cortland did agree to extinguish more than $300,000 dollars in back taxes on the property before the IDA acquisition. The agreement will repay all or part of the taxes after the IDA is reimbursed for its investment upon sale of the property.
A Federal grant to the City of Cortland will also help analyze what is in the ground after the initial clean up work is completed on the property. The IDA stresses that the property will not only be cleaned up, but will also ensure all materials are handled safely and anything potentially hazardous is removed.
