City of Rochester
News Release
(Thursday, May 26, 20022) – Mayor Malik D. Evans and members of the Greater Rochester Land Bank today celebrated the successful revitalization of 6 Madison St., a home in the Susan B. Anthony Neighborhood that had been vacant for more than 20 years.
“The revitalization of 6 Madison Street – a story of blight to bright – is a story of perseverance and determination and, most importantly, a story of more to come,” said Mayor Evans. “All across Rochester, we are thinking outside of the box and finding ways to bring new investment to our neighborhoods and give our residents the foundation of a home. This is how we are creating a safe, equitable and prosperous Rochester.”
The home at 6 Madison St. had been vacant since at least 1996 when the City purchased the property in a tax-foreclosure sale. The City made several attempts to sell the property to private investors, but the conditions – including significant deterioration – proved too challenging. The City-owned property was the last remaining vacant home and blighting influence on Madison Street, which attracts thousands of visitors each year to the Susan B. Anthony House and Museum.
In 2021, the City sold the property to the Greater Rochester Land Bank, which was able to secure $100,000 from the N.Y. Attorney General’s Land Bank Community Revitalization Initiative (LBCRI). The Land Bank then sold the property to Rochester real estate developer Miguel Rosario of Rosario Home Improvements, who used the LBCRI funding to restore the property and secure its first certificate of occupancy in more than two decades.
The two-unit property will be rented to tenants at a rate that does not exceed 30 percent of their income – the threshold for rent-burden.
Enterprise Community Partners, a national non-profit agency committed to equitable housing, managed the grant award.
###News Media: For more information, contact Communications Director Barbara Pierce at
Barbara.Pierce@cityofrochester.gov.