For sale: Old prisons and warden's homes

This post comes from Marilyn Lewis of MSN Money.

If you liked "50 Shades of Grey," the wildly popular novel featuring S&M and bondage now dominating The New York Times bestseller list, you might be just the perfect buyer for one of this week's most eccentric real-estate offerings: surplus prisons and warden's homes being unloaded by the state of New York.

The real-estate bust has produced plenty of interesting housing bargains, but few are as oddball as some of the properties listed here.

Built in a different era

As the state cuts back, it's disposing of closed prisons with plenty of acreage and interesting outbuildings. Also included in the sell-off are 23 state-owned residences that once were the homes of prison superintendents.

Says The New York Times: "Some are quite lavish: One in Auburn, to be auctioned this summer, is an 8,850-square-foot brick mansion with eight bedrooms, six bathrooms, an attached gazebo and a barn-size garage." The mansions aren't yet included on the state's website of surplus properties.

"The state has a glut of vacant correctional facilities because of lower crime rates, new programs that allow early release for nonviolent offenders and the dismantling of its strict drug laws," The Times says.

In 1973, New York had 13,437 state prisoners. A mandatory drug sentencing law went into effect that year. It helped push prison populations to 71,472 by 1999. Then-Gov. Mario Cuomo, father of current Gov. Andrew Cuomo, presided over a prison-building boom. Now, the state has 55,000 prisoners behind bars and thousands of empty beds.

Last year, New York consolidated prison populations and shut down seven prisons to save the state an estimated $184 million. Other states are closing prisons, too. This slide show by The Huffington Post describes efforts in 15 states to reduce prison populations. (Post continues below.)

The possibilities for New York's relics are endless for buyers with a little imagination. Here's a sampling of the properties. No prices are listed but contact information for the state's agents is included:

• The former Mid-Orange Correctional Facility, 55 miles from New York City, includes 40 acres of land inside a "secure boundary" and an additional 686 acres outside. The 100-year-old facility includes water and sewer systems, a farm and 81 buildings, including a 12-bed medical unit. Located in the scenic Hudson Valley, this property has promise. The Times says that local officials:

. . . want to split the 736-bed prison property into smaller parcels, and several manufacturers have expressed interest in moving to the site. Other ideas for reuse included a wildlife sanctuary, a solar power facility and a Greek-style yogurt plant.

• The former Buffalo Correctional Facility outside Buffalo has nine buildings on 20 acres, surrounded by a 4-foot-tall control fence. But the neighbor -- a functioning state prison -- is fussy. You'll need permission from the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision before opening your charm school here or relocating your tunnel-boring business to this site.

• The old Hoosick Falls Armory. Think of all the fun you could have with this old armory in Rensselaer County, N.Y. It's not exactly a prison, true. But it could be. Or anything else your heart desires (although local zoning enforcers can occasionally be wet blankets). Since the "historic Romanesque-style red brick" pile is a look-alike castle, we had to include it in this list. Says the state: "The armory's massive size opens its future to myriad possibilities, indoor sports or recreational facilities, business offices, or cultural venue." Aching to open your own roller rink? Or to start up a paint ball wonderland?
  

• The former Arthur Kill New York State Correctional Facility offers 69 acres of waterfront on Staten Island's west shore. Included: a two-story gymnasium, a baseball diamond, an open-air pavilion, a power station, petroleum bulk storage and a decommissioned firing range. Just the ticket for an oddball tycoon who craves plenty of space yet demands proximity to the city. But you'd better move quickly. State officials reportedly are considering plans to site a new retail development here.

Rehabilitating old lockups

Prison conversions are not unheard of. The 100-year-old Lorton Workhouse in Fairfax County, Va., outside Washington, D.C. (later the District of Columbia’s Correctional Complex), was closed in 1968. Now it is the Workhouse Arts Center, with seven artist studios, a main gallery and a youth arts center.

The Boston Globe, in an April article, tells of a couple successful Boston-area jail conversions. Boston's Charles Street Jail is now the Liberty Hotel, and the Old Salem Jail has been remade into 23 luxury condos and a Great Escape restaurant.

Prison and jail conversions are difficult, however. The Litchfield Jail in Litchfield, Conn., built in 1814, "went out to bid in 2010 and remains without a tenant," the Globe said.

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The New York Times says of New York's prison properties:

The prisons are by far the largest, and most challenging to sell, of the (state surplus) properties on the market. Some of them would be quite expensive to maintain or demolish, and many are in rural areas where real estate is inexpensive and undeveloped land is plentiful.

"It's a building that's just sitting there," said Harold Vroman, chairman of the board of supervisors in Schoharie County, where Mr. Cuomo shut down a 100-bed minimum-security prison last year. "Who wants to buy a jail, you know?"

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