ROCHESTER, N.Y. – In a city with a shortage of affordable places to live, a building where half of the units are unlivable is about to change.
Orlando Ortiz and Vlad Mirochnik just bought the 56-unit apartment complex on Lake Avenue from an owner in Brooklyn who had it for 17 years. Only half of the units are currently suitable to be lived in.
“So every week we are getting constantly bombarded with phone calls so I can imagine what folks are going through out there that are not able to find these places,” said Orlando Ortiz. “So having 20 plus units come online will make a huge impact for those families.”
County records show Ortiz, Mirochnik and their ownership group bought the complex in January for $2 million from a Jewish charity organization in Brooklyn. This is the only property the organization owns in Rochester.
Over the last couple of weeks, News10NBC has been looking into home ownership by outside investors. Governor Kathy Hochul recently said, “these huge, greedy conglomerates are gobbling up the housing stock.”
This affects groups like Theo Finn’s at Greater Rochester Housing Partnership, who buy and rehab vacant homes to make them affordable. However, they’re getting seriously outbid.
Berkeley Brean, News10NBC: “So of the 40 you looked at, you got seven.”Theo Finn, Greater Rochester Housing Partnership: “Yes.”
Mirochnik’s group used to buy single-family homes and turn them into rentals. Now he says they’re selling them and only buying places that were built for renters.
Berkeley Brean: “For your company, is this a moral decision that you made?”
Vladimir Mirochnik: “Yes, absolutely. It’s definitely a moral decision. I’ve had to write sometimes eight to 10 offers for clients just to get a home accepted, or an offer accepted. This is something that we don’t want to be a part of anymore.”
Ortiz and Mirochnik took News10NBC into one of the unlivable units they just bought.
“So this unit here over the winter, they didn’t properly drain all the lines. These all busted. When we purchased the property, this was a sheet of ice here,” Ortiz said. “You can see windows. At some point tenants lived here but it was insulation for windows.”
Berkeley Brean: “So a family was living here recently in this unit?”Orlando Ortiz: “Yeah, prior to us acquiring the unit and the building we were told a family was living here not long before we purchased the property, correct.”
“So when we think about the housing issues here in Rochester having 50% of a 56 unit complex is just not acceptable,” Ortiz said.
“Well as a realtor I can tell you there’s a shortage of single family homes in our area. I think that’s not news for anyone now,” Mirochnik said. “And investors, there are other ways to invest in real estate without having to do single-family homes.”
Berkeley Brean: “That’s 28 places for a family to live. What difference is that going to make in our community?”
Orlando Ortiz: “I get probably 10 calls a week from families just looking for places. So having 20 plus units come online will make a huge impact for those families.”
The first four renovated units open in May. There are roughly 1,000 people who are homeless in Monroe County, 25% are children. 3,000 affordable housing units have been, or are getting built in the city.
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