Plan for Apartments at Binghamton Univ. JC Campus Scrapped

A project to develop dozens of affordable senior housing units in a building at Binghamton University's health sciences campus in Johnson City has been cancelled.

The school had been working with the Binghamton-based First Ward Action Council on a plan that would have used a section of the old Ozalid building at 18 Park Street.

The project had been discussed at meetings of the Johnson City village board in recent months. The board approved the site plan in late September.

Agency executive director Jerry Willard said 30 apartments would have been developed using some of the space in the Park Street structure. But a decision was made recently not to go forward with the project.

Willard said there were issues involved in the applying for state funding that would have been needed. He said he's disappointed that the project won't become a reality because "we really like the site."

The abandoned industrial building and neighboring properties were acquired by the Binghamton University Foundation in 2019.

University president Harvey Stenger had told WNBF News the intention was to renovate the Ozalid structure so it could be used to make pharmaceutical products. He said the first floor of the building would be "a perfect site for manufacturing."

A potential partnership between Binghamton University and Upstate Medical University may lead to a future use of a portion of the Johnson City building.

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Contact WNBF News reporter Bob Joseph: bob@wnbf.com. For breaking news and updates on developing stories, follow @BinghamtonNow on Twitter.