November 29, 2023
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Oswego Village Board buys property for commercial redevelopment

By Eric Schelkopf
At their July 18 meeting, trustees unanimously voted to purchase the houses at 6 and 12 W. Buren streets for $525,000 from Fitzpatrick Properties, LLC. The funds will come from the village’s tax increment financing fund.

At their July 18 meeting, trustees unanimously voted to purchase the houses at 6 and 12 W. Buren streets for $525,000 from Fitzpatrick Properties, LLC. The funds will come from the village’s tax increment financing fund. (Eric Schelkopf)

The Oswego Village Board has given the green light to acquiring two houses to expand the village’s commercial base.

At their July 18 meeting, trustees unanimously voted to buy the houses at 6 and 12 W. Buren St. for $525,000 from Fitzpatrick Properties LLC. The funds will come from the village’s tax increment financing fund.

“Once purchased and acquired by the village, we’ll be able to market the lots to developers for commercial and mixed-use development consistent with the village’s Comprehensive Plan and zoning.”

—  Oswego Village Administrator Dan Di Santo

Once a municipality creates a TIF district, its property assessment is frozen and new or increased taxes generated by improvements are used to pay for improvements or other development incentives.

“For the first time, at least in anybody’s memory, the properties at 6 and 12 W. Van Buren went for sale at the same time,” Oswego Village Administrator Dan Di Santo said. “They’re residential properties that are actually zoned commercial and are on the outskirts of our downtown.”

The property at 6 Van Buren is about 4,819 square feet and the property at 12 Van Buren is about 4,031 square feet (8,850 square feet or 0.2 acres combined.) The two properties are just west of Main Street.

“Once purchased and acquired by the village, we’ll be able to market the lots to developers for commercial and mixed-use development consistent with the village’s Comprehensive Plan and zoning,” Di Santo said.

The Reserve at Hudson Crossing apartment and retail building in downtown Oswego was built on the former Alexander Lumber property, which the village had purchased and sold to the Geneva-based Shodeen Group.