This past weekend I was in Manhattan for the New York City Century Bike Ride (a great ride through Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens) and managed to get out and see some of the city.
It is still possible to see the remnants and relics of some of the railroad carfloat operations along the waterfront. I remember seeing a carfloat gantry along the Hudson shore that was still intact, more or less, but clearly abandoned for many years. Who has control of these kind of properties and the abandoned facilities that are sometimes on them? Are any kind of property taxes still levied against these facilities and if so, who would pay them?
You raise some interesting points, and may have in fact answered your own question.
Defunct properties with accumulating unpaid property taxes have a knack for defaulting to the local jurisdiction.
New York may have a unique set of cirmcumstances, and while I admit I am only speculating, doesn’t the Port Authority preside over most of the logistics related waterfront property? That’s what I always thought, anyway.
Abandoned industrial complexes have always been interesting to me for some reason. I like to look at them and think about the processes they may have used and the products that came out of them. Sometimes you see a small detail that provides a clue to what some workers job was.
Some of the abandoned facilities sit on what could be very valuable property and I sometimes wonder why it is still there and who , if anyone, is paying the yearly cost of keeping the property instead of selling it off. A interesting example is the vacant land along the south branch of the Chicago River. I was told that this was owned by a railroad, so it would seem that they are paying a lot of money in taxes for a prime chunk of Chicago land.
For industrial facilities, many times the environmental cleanup costs are the reason they sit derelict rather than being redeveloped. I’ve heard the term “brownfields” used to describe polluted former industrial locations. I believe there are some efforts afoot to write REASONABLE cleanup requirements/standards, rather than the “purer-than-at-the-moment-of-Creation” standards some of the loonies insist on. IIRC some property in Baltimore was cleaned up to a reasonable standard and redeveloped within the last 2-5 years.
Partly the absolute cost. Partly the problem that in most jurisdictions, it is almost impossible to predict the cost (except somewhere between huge and national debt) since the purer than whatnot loonies won’t tell you when you start what your ultimate target will be – I remember a couple of jobs I started which ran for better than 10 years, with the cleanup target changing every year (great for me, a bit tough on the owner). And it is the current owner who picks up the tab – not the polluter (if there ever really was one). Who needs it?
I can think of several large industrial properties here in Connecticut which the owners just walked away from; stopped paying taxes and just left – for that very reason. Funny thing is that most towns and cities won’t take possession over the taxes, because if they do, then THEY become liable for the clean up costs!
A snow plow manufacturing facility near me was essentially abandoned when the original owner was bought out - for the trademark, essentially - and manufacturing was moved elsewhere.
Just to keep this on a railroad line - one ran right by the facility on its way to the riverfront RR station and ship coaling facility.
And that’s what’s significant about this property - it’s right on the St Lawrence River and has the potential to be quite valuable.
The township ended up with the property via tax issues (the village wasn’t interested although it’s right downtown). Between town monies (and manpower) and a grant or two the site has been “remediated” and they are entertaining interested parties for development.