AUBURN - Out of a shrubbery jungle eating up the edges of 69 Fitch Ave., Cayuga County Homsite Development Corporation has renovated the abandoned house into a spic and span, trim and attractive three-bedroom family home.

The housing agency's staff hope this home will be the first successful example of their efforts to acquire Auburn houses, renovate them and sell them to low-income and moderate-income families.

"It gives a community of citizens affordable, safe housing they can purchase," said Tom Falicchio, Homsite's executive director.

Falicchio said the renovation of neighborhood eyesores will return properties to the city's tax rolls. The Fitch Avenue project was secured by the city's office of Planning and Economic Development with city council approval for Homsite after the city foreclosed on it because of unpaid back taxes.

Homsite applied two weeks ago for a $1.5 million grant from the state Division of Housing and Community Renewal. Homsite hopes to be able to renovate 15 other houses within city limits and sell them to home buyers with lower incomes. If the grant is approved in July, the city will add $10,000 of federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) money per house toward lead removal.

The Fitch Avenue house is freshly painted, has white siding and teal trim. Spindles and a scalloped design on the front porch were preserved from the original house. Oak cupboards were installed in the kitchen.

Almost everything in the house is new: the furnace in the basement, windows, siding, plumbing, electricity, Sheetrock, flooring, the porches and the kitchen and bathroom.

"The house not only looks pretty ... realistically when somebody buys this, they won't have to put a dime into the house for 20 years," said Tim Hodson, Homsite's assistant director.

Before Homsite got to the house, which was abandoned for several years, the kitchen ceiling was falling in, leaving a massive hole and a rotted floor.

Contractors and Homsite staff are finishing up the final installations of the kitchen sink, bathroom toilet and house numbers on the outside in preparation for an open house Sunday. Falicchio, Hodson and Homsite project manager John Greer will be on hand to pitch the house.

Renovations began on the house last November. Homsite was able to buy and repair it for $97,000.

The house is worth $87,000, Homsite staff said, but with grants, a potential homeowner would only have to borrow $57,500 to pay for the house.

$10,000 of the grant money came from the city of Auburn's CDBG, $20,000 from the state Affordable Housing Corporation and $11,665 from the state Division of Housing and Community Development.

Jenny Haines, the planning and economic development program manager at the city's development office, said the city will regain $62,000 in construction financing it put into the Fitch Avenue property with the house's sale, but $10,000 will be left in as grant money.

Money from the sale will allow Homsite and the city to continue their good work and lend to other homeowners, Haines said.

Staff writer Amaris Elliott-Engel can be reached at 253-5311 x282 or at amaris.elliot-engel@lee.net