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House on Second Street in Greenport may be knocked down

JENNIFER GUSTAVSON PHOTO The remains of this burned-out house on Second Street in Greenport will be knocked down to make room for new construction.

A burned-out house that’s been an eyesore to Greenport residents for nearly four years may soon be knocked down, village officials announced this week.

During the Greenport Village Board’s Monday night work session, village attorney Joe Prokop said the North Fork Housing Alliance, which owns the house at 620 Second St. that was heavily damaged in a 2008 fire, has scrapped plans to renovate the structure and instead submitted a new construction proposal.

But first, the building’s remains must come down.

Renovation work started last month after the village cited the alliance and ordered it to stabilize the structure. But construction ceased shortly thereafter as the alliance’s engineer, architect and builder evaluated what was salvageable.

“They should have just demo’d this thing in the first place,” Trustee David Murray said.

Village administrator David Abatelli said the alliance’s new plan is similar to its initial proposal. The only difference is the construction project for a two-family house includes all-new walls, he said.

There also plans to build a new house next door at 618 Second St. to replace the structure damaged in the 2008 blaze and subsequently demolished.

North Fork Housing Alliance officials, who have declined comment on previous stories about the project, did not return a phone call seeking comment.

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