Jeremy Yasses has plans to make 507 Ellicott St. beautiful again, but first he needs the Batavia City Council to approve his purchase of the property.
In the city's annual tax lien auction, Yasses bid on the property and won it for $5,000 under the corporate name Trine Properties, Inc.
But last year the council set a precedent by denying Michael Pullinzi the ability to buy 9 Willow St.,saying Pullinzi was a landlord with too many alleged code violations against his properties.
Once again, council members are receiving a memo from city staff on the number and types of alleged violations against this year's auction winners, and Yasses tops the list with 11 alleged violations.
All of the violations have been corrected, according to the report.
The violations are on properties Yasses or his wife own and are rental properties.
Today, Yasses noted that it was Trine Properties, Inc. that bought 507 Ellicott St., not Jeremy Yasses. Yasses said he's just an officer in the company and there are investors that back Trine.
Trine does not want to buy the Ellicott Street residence in order to turn it into a rental. The intention, Yasses said, is to rehabilitate it and sell it.
To help make his case, Yasses sent a letter to the city -- included in the council agenda package -- outlining his plans for the property and including before and after pictures of properties his company has previously rehabilitated.
Yasses says he wants to get out of the rental business -- if only he could sell his current properties -- and just deal in rehab projects.
He has been involved in rehabilitating about a dozen properties in Genesee and Orleans counties over the past two years. He's just about to sell a place in Alabama that after rehab has increased in assessed value by $20,000.
"I want to make the house beautiful and improve the neighborhood," Yasses said. "I think that's what the council is after. It would be a positive for the city."
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