SCHENECTADY, N.Y. — Habitat for Humanity of Schenectady County today announced plans to build five new homes in Schenectady this year on Rankin Avenue and Landon Terrace on sites that were acquired by the Capital Region Land Bank and made ready for development.

“The Land Bank is excited to partner with Habitat for Humanity to make the dream of home ownership a reality for five families, while improving the value and quality of life for our neighbors.” said Richard Ruzzo, Chair of the Capital Region Land Bank and a member of the Schenectady County Legislature.

The five new homes will be built at sites where blighted buildings once stood. A long-vacant warehouse once occupied a prominent location in a neighborhood on Rankin Avenue. The City of Schenectady and the Land Bank entered into a licensing agreement that allowed the warehouse building to be torn down.

Mayor Gary McCarthy said, “The Rankin Avenue project is replacing a tax foreclosed, vacant, derelict building with three new homes. We are pleased to work with the Land Bank and Habitat to make this happen.”

Three new homes will be constructed at the Rankin Avenue site using modular construction.

Kathy Fernandez, Executive Director of Habitat for Humanity Schenectady County, said, “We are excited to add modular housing to our tool kit because it will allow us to more than double our typical output of homes in a year without increasing the size of our staff. The more homes we build the more families we can help gain the opportunity of homeownership.”

The modular homes are being built by Bill Lake Modular Homes in Sprakers, NY. Final construction will take place on Rankin Avenue to complete the three new homes.

On Landon Terrace, two new homes are planned for a site that once contained one of the worst zombie properties in Schenectady County (photo below).

“Blight removal is an important part of the Land Bank’s mission, but we know we can’t stop there,” said Ruzzo. “Seeing new homes being erected in places formerly plagued by blight really creates the full-circle moment that reminds us that our work is about restoring, revitalizing and strengthening our neighborhood communities.”

The Land Bank is providing $200,000 in funding to help support the construction of the new homes. Metroplex administers the Land Bank as part of Schenectady County’s unified economic development team.