Photo Tour of Tax Forfeitures, Continued

 

The first round of tax forfeiture photos were just the properties in Jordan, but I set out to chronicle all of the houses that the County will have in their possession if they aren't redeemed.  Neighborhood groups are typically asked to make one of three recommendations on such properties; either that we support the city's acquisition, that we recommend allowing the houses to go to an auction, or that we recommend the properties be withheld from auction for six months while an alternate use is determined.

Where that limited set of recommendations falls short is that we may not support what the city does with a property post-acquisition (not to mention that neither we nor the city may even know such things at this moment).  We certainly don't have reason to trust that the County will avoid selling to slumlords at auction.  And there's no way to know whether we'll find a good investor in six months or if that investor will even find the County to be a willing seller.

So in general, those three choices almost ought to be scrapped for a different system entirely--at least for distressed communities where the tax auction process invites a worse breed of buyers than other parts of Hennepin County.  What that process might look like is a topic for another post.  For now, we march on with the photo tour.  The above property is 3301 Oliver Avenue North, and then we have...

3255 Upton

3319 Oliver

5127 Irving

5111 Logan

3314 Bryant

3522 Aldrich

3331 Colfax

3243 Fremont

3239 Fremont

3245 Fremont

 Yes, there are three tax forfeiture properties in a row on Fremont Avenue North.

3753 Aldrich

3515 Dupont

 3515 Dupont Avenue North earns the distinction of being the first property so far that I wouldn't get too worked up over a demolition.

3418 Fremont

3210 4th St

615 33rd Ave

704 31st Ave

422 30th Ave - aka "The Brick House" in the EcoVillage

2909 3rd St was one of the properties I pined after during my home search.

2945 Lyndale

2732 4th St

2515 3rd St - aka "Mr. Slummy's" and the birthplace of the "Hawthorne Hawkman" moniker.  Probably not enough for historic designation; the second house I'd like to see come down.

2119 6th St is the occupied duplex at the right. Tax records indicate it is vacant.

2115 Bryant

2200 Dupont; this is one I would not want to see demolished, nor would I want to see a non-profit muck it up.  A good private developer should be found here.

2222 Emerson

2823 Bryant

712 Elwood

915 Queen - not much visible due to the trees and Lazy Boy.

1222 Penn

1626 Oliver - picture below has a different angle

1600  Oliver

1601 Morgan

1921 Queen - a property that I could see as a demo candidate upon first impressions.

Until I looked at it from this angle.  It looks decent enough to warrant at least an attempt at preservation.

2312 Upton

More regulatory plumage!  If we watch this as carefully through the tax forfeiture sale process as these signs would indicate, maybe these properties would be all right.