Mayor Jared Kraham announced the upcoming demolition of an abandoned building at 263 Washington St. last week.

The building, formerly known as “The Kenmore,” was built in the late 1880s. The property was acquired by Philmar Holdings LLC of New Paltz in 2009 for around $57,000. The LLC had planned to renovate the building into 26 modern studio apartments with a $500,000 grant from the state. However, the project was ultimately scrapped and the owners left the building vacant for several years. Kraham said last week the owners had until April 14 to begin the demolition process or the city will demolish the building at the owner’s expense.

The city’s Code Enforcement Department cited the LLC for breaking various state property maintenance codes dating back to 2023. The violations “involved several areas of collapsing masonry, deteriorated masonry joints, falling bricks, damaged sections of the roof and gutters, damaged window frames and debris in the rear of the property.”

No action has been taken by the owners toward the demolition of the property. City officials, including the fire marshal, the office of code enforcement and the office of corporation counsel, have all determined that the building must come down as a matter of public safety due to its crumbling exterior and exposed interior.

There have not been any updates regarding the demolition as of April 15.

“This is basically an emergency demo that is necessary because of the condition of the building and the public safety threat that it has,” Kraham told Binghamton Homepage. “We want the property owner to do it, I do not anticipate the property owner will do it. So the city is empowered to make the site safe under state law and certainly our local code and we have done this for different properties in the past.”

The city has also taken more extensive action against the building’s owners. The property owners, Kevin Findley and Philip Costa, were found guilty in Binghamton City Court of 50 code violations on the property last fall following a criminal trial. Costa originally was to be sentenced in January, but the court date was postponed. A conference to determine a new sentencing date is scheduled for mid-May. Findley, whose last known address was in Binghamton, has a warrant out for his arrest and could not be located by authorities. Attorney Elisabeth Rossow, the city’s code prosecutor, led the case for the city.

The code prosecutor position was created by Kraham in 2022 to hold slumlords and repeat code violators accountable for unsafe housing conditions. The city has also taken action to secure fines and compliance from property owners and arrest out-of-town landlords to enforce court warrants.

“This is an unprecedented win for the City in the years-long battle against one of Binghamton’s biggest eyesores,” said Kraham in a press release. “It’s the latest example of the results we’re seeing thanks to the hard work of the City’s Code Enforcement office and Code prosecutor, a position I created shortly after taking office to focus on serious and repeat Code violators. We’re hopeful that this court victory marks a turning point for a significant downtown property and sends a message to others that the City of Binghamton will not let blight and unsafe housing conditions go unchecked.”