SYRACUSE - In a rare move, federal housing officials are giving this city another three weeks to find a buyer for nine low-income apartment buildings.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development agreed to postpone Wednesday's scheduled auction for 21 days.

The city objected to the auction, in which the buildings would go to the highest bidder, regardless of management history. City officials wanted more say in who buys the properties and how they are used.

“We certainly are not trying to cause issues between HUD and the city,” said Beverly Miller, director of multi-family asset management for HUD.

The extra time will allow city officials to find potential developers and review plans for the nine apartment buildings, said Syracuse Mayor Matt Driscoll, who originally sought cancellation of the auction.

“Our ultimate goal is to see that these buildings end up in the hands of a company with sufficient resources to fix them and a proven track record of property management,” Driscoll said. “We just want to make sure that whatever they do will have the best interest of the community at large at heart.”

The nine buildings contain 275 federally subsidized low-income apartments. They are scattered throughout the city.

HUD foreclosed on the buildings in September after they failed inspection three times over three years.

The properties were previously owned by Eli Hadad, a Miami investor who bought large chunks of downtown Syracuse real estate only to amass dozens of code violations and thousands of dollars in unpaid taxes.

HUD informed the city last May of its intent to foreclose on the buildings but the city never responded until Monday, Miller said.

HUD also offered to sell the properties to the city for $9.7 million, noting that it would take at least another $16 million to rehabilitate the buildings. Driscoll rejected that option.