1,400 Syracuse Apartments Sit Empty or Condemned. The City Needs Every One of Them.

By Mike DiNapoli | CNY Signal

Syracuse needs more housing than at any point in modern memory. Instead, nearly 1,400 apartment units at three complexes sit offline or condemned.

That is the math of the city’s housing emergency in April 2026: demand surging from Micron-related growth, a construction pipeline that cannot keep pace, and a roster of negligent property owners holding hundreds of units hostage through deferred maintenance and safety violations.

The numbers come from a WAER investigation published in February. At the time of reporting, roughly 1,400 units across three complexes were either vacant, unfit for habitation, or on the verge of condemnation.

Skyline Apartments: 352 Units, Zero Tenants

Clear Investment Group, a Chicago-based firm, took ownership of the Skyline Apartments on James Street in mid-2023 and forced all residents to vacate. The company promised a full renovation and rebrand as “The Metropolitan.”

A court-approved agreement, reached in late 2025, set an April 30 deadline for Clear Investment Group to complete repairs and obtain a certificate of occupancy. As of February 2026, the 352-unit building remained empty. City officials told WAER they have the agreement in place, but compliance has been slow.

Nob Hill: 760 Units, Two Dead After February Fire

Nob Hill Apartments, Syracuse’s largest complex at 101 Lafayette Road along the city’s southern edge, was already teetering toward condemnation when a fire tore through Building 3 on February 28.

The early-morning blaze, fueled by 30 mph wind gusts and a heavy load of flammable materials, killed two residents — 78-year-old Augustus Grissett Sr. and a second individual whose cause of death is under investigation. Firefighters rescued 11 people, including a family of six. More than 50 residents were displaced.

Syracuse Fire Chief Michael Monds described the conditions as a “wind-driven blowtorch.” The building had no sprinkler system. Its fire alarm system was not certified. Code violations dating back 686 days were on record before the fire.

Before the blaze, WAER had already documented serious violations across the 760-unit complex: broken heating systems, plumbing failures, and doors that residents could not open from the inside — a fire safety hazard that alone could trigger condemnation.

The city’s legal team had taken the owners — a California-based company currently in foreclosure — to court and secured a judge’s order to correct violations. Those corrections had not happened. Mayor Sharon Owens announced further legal action against the owners after the fire, citing ongoing neglect. The owners owe the city hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines.

By The Numbers

• ~1,400 — Total apartment units offline across three complexes
• 760 — Units at Nob Hill Apartments
• 352 — Units at Skyline Apartments (vacant since mid-2023)
• 2 — Deaths in the Feb. 28 Nob Hill fire
• 50+ — Residents displaced by the fire
• 686 — Days some Nob Hill code violations had been outstanding
• 14,000 — Estimated annual evictions in Syracuse (Onondaga Volunteer Lawyers Project)
• 60% — Increase in Syracuse homelessness over six years
• 30,000 — New housing units needed over 30 years (Empire State Development)
• 1,700 — Building permits issued in Onondaga County in 2025

The Demand Side: 30,000 Units Over 30 Years

The supply crisis collides with an Empire State Development study projecting that Micron’s $100 billion project and its projected 50,000 jobs will generate demand for 30,000 new housing units over three decades.

The region is building. Onondaga County issued more than 1,700 building permits in 2025, including more than 1,300 multifamily units — double the 10-year average. The state’s $150 million Housing Central New York Fund aims to produce 2,500 workforce housing units over seven years.

But the units being built are overwhelmingly market-rate or workforce-priced. The 1,400 units sitting offline were affordable housing. That distinction matters. Homelessness in Syracuse has increased 60% over the past six years, according to WAER’s reporting. The Onondaga Volunteer Lawyers Project estimates an average of 14,000 people are evicted from their homes in Syracuse annually.

What the City Can Do

City officials have limited leverage against private property owners who choose not to maintain their buildings. Court orders require compliance, but enforcement depends on the owners actually doing the work. Syracuse’s code enforcement department can condemn buildings, but condemnation does not create housing — it removes it from the market.

Mayor Walsh pledged 2,500 new housing units by 2026 in his State of the City address. The $31 million Creekside Landing project, developed by Housing Visions, delivered 52 affordable units — 32 townhomes on vacant parcels secured by the Greater Syracuse Land Bank, and 20 apartments in a converted office building on the Southside and Westside. Sixteen units are reserved for young adults ages 18-25 who are struggling with homelessness. The development now houses 160 people, including 73 school-age children.

The former Syracuse Developmental Center site at 800 S. Wilbur Avenue is slated for more than 250 new homes, 7.5 acres of green space, and 3,600 square feet of retail in Phase 1.

These are real additions. But they do not replace 1,400 units that already exist and could be habitable with proper maintenance.