With Imagination and Vision...Opportunities are Everywhere

Read the Guidebook - "Opportunities Waiting to Happen"

Watch the "Opportunities Waiting to Happen" Video

All across New York State, communities are searching for ways to revitalize their economy, environment and quality of life. Many of these communities are dotted with older and historic buildings that are often no longer in use.

A growing number of communities have begun to look at abandoned buildings not as liabilities or useless relics, but as opportunities waiting to happen. These residential, commercial, industrial and institutional ghosts are part of the community's heritage and are being dramatically brought back to life, reinvigorating the community.

People with a vision are transforming these buildings into cost-effective spaces for new uses, turning once derelict areas into new, vibrant destinations.

• In Greenport, a rusty, abandoned World War II Navy shipyard has been transformed into a thriving manufacturing site.
• In Oswego, the city has worked in partnership with the private sector to restore abandoned buildings, bringing activity back to the downtown.
• In Kingston, the reuse of abandoned buildings has created a thriving entertainment district that is acting as a catalyst for revitalizing other abandoned buildings.
• In Beacon, an abandoned factory on the Hudson River has been transformed into a world-class art museum by the Dia Art Foundation.
• In Syracuse's historic Franklin Square, abandoned factories and other buildings have been converted into an attractive mix of apartments, office space, and neighborhood shops and restaurants - the Square has become a model of successful urban revitalization.
• In Rochester, the city is building on its early successes in finding viable uses for abandoned buildings. The High Falls area on the Genesee River is becoming a thriving tourist destination as an entertainment and commercial district.
• In Greenpoint, a neighborhood of Brooklyn, the 400,000 square foot former Chelsea Fiber Mills complex has been redeveloped as a design and manufacturing center employing well over 500 people.

By developing creative public/private/nonprofit partnerships and with persistence and careful planning, these people are achieving their vision and realizing the benefits of redeveloping abandoned buildings and sites.

For those communities that have successfully pursued such visions, returning abandoned buildings to useful service has strengthened community pride, preserved local heritage, established new destinations, created new jobs, and bolstered tax revenues for their community.

The Division of Coastal Resources has produced a guidebook to help you and your community to achieve that success. This guidebook is designed to inspire and assist all New Yorkers to redevelop abandoned buildings as part of the overall vision for their community. The guidebook takes you step-by-step through the redevelopment process including:

•  Defining your vision for success - highlighting the vital importance of having a clearly defined objective for the future of your building or site.
• Building on your assets - helping you to understand your building or site, and it's role in the community.
• Establishing partnerships - showing how to strengthen the community’s involvement in your project and ensure the key players are on board.
• Finding a market niche for your building or site - outlining the steps needed to understand the market for your building or site, determine the economic viability of your project, and the strategies that exist to fund your project.
• Taking it one step at a time - providing detailed guidelines for implementing your project.

This guidebook outlines a process that is about far more than just closing the deal. It is a process that involves the community and strives to bring all the resources, both public and private, to the table to enable the project to succeed. So take a fresh look at abandoned buildings and sites in your community and discover the opportunities waiting to happen.