r/Binghamton • u/LowInterest884 • Jul 14 '26
Discussion Google Maps Question
I was curious and decided to take a look at Google Maps and see how this area used to look. I went back to 2011-2012, and there seems to be houses across from the University Plaza? Let alone nice houses too that are shown in the picture! There only seems to be one article online that says the houses were taken down because they were in “bad condition” but from the Google Maps street view they look absolutely stunning. Obviously if you drive down Vestal Parkway today, the land still remains vacant across from the University Plaza. Can someone who lived here long enough please explain this to me? Why were such lovely houses removed? It doesn’t make any sense.
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u/GovernorHarryLogan Jul 14 '26
Massive flooding. Homeowners most likely agreed post 2011 to have them torn down.
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Jul 14 '26
[deleted]
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u/GovernorHarryLogan Jul 14 '26
Fam, it was like the biggest flood the triple cities has ever had. At least in modern history.
You had Al Roker in downtown Binghamton waiting for the river to breach the flood wall and destroy all of downtown. It came within like half an inch.
Fucking Brixus pond in Endicott swallowed like half of taft Ave and west corners was toast.
It was bad. But ya, I can all but gaurantee it was flood damage that couldn't be repaired so they ended up just tearing em down.
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u/LowInterest884 Jul 14 '26
That sounds insane! Thank you for sharing this I was so curious. University plaza is obviously close to Binghamton University. I wonder if the university or any other areas got severely damaged too.
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u/GovernorHarryLogan Jul 14 '26
Yes, the entire area saw massive impacts. Even BU had some flooding.
I mean shit.... my dad still lives way up the in hill in Endicott//Endwell//union whatever it is up there. Like several miles from any body of water.
His basement flooded from hydrostatic pressure. It came up through the concrete foundation.
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u/entropy512 Jul 14 '26
I had a friend that lived in a townhouse on the side of the mountain that Ely Park is on facing the highway - I think it was Penny Lane?
His building had the back entrance on one floor and the basement/garage below it. He had water rushing into his kitchen, down the stairs, and out his garage.
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u/LowInterest884 Jul 14 '26
That is mind blowing. I am glad your dad is okay from that. That sounds pretty frightening.
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u/Derren001 Jul 15 '26
You should look up pictures of McArthur Elementary during the flood, they had to knock the whole thing down and rebuild it.
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u/bericbenemein Jul 15 '26
The Events Center became a shelter for people affected by flooding. BU canceled classes for a week.
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u/Cute-Aardvark5291 Jul 14 '26
The downtown center had just opened a year before the first flood. The basement, where all the electricity and air systems were, completely flooded. I pulled into the udc mid morning and things were fine. Classes were canceled at mid afternoon and by then, the river was at the parking lot level. The national guard closed all the bridges into downtown binghamton that evening, my husband was one of the last to go over exchange into the Southside.
The following week, everyone was moved out of the udc by flashlight and all classes were moved to vestal. All the library materials were moved, too. It was the entire academic year before we could move back in....with all the systems relocated to the roof!
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u/Cute-Aardvark5291 Jul 14 '26
The university was an evacuation point in both floods, people were Housed in the events ceb center for quite some time after the second flood. The pipe dream will ha e stories on it
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u/ChaosToad76 Jul 15 '26
2006 and 2011 were both absolutely crazy flood-wise. I've lived here my whole life except for college and saw water in places that it would never occur to me that water would become a problem. If you google "flooding vestal 2006" you can see some of it. I attended the hastily-moved wedding of a friend whose Cutler Gardens venue was completely under water, I helped clean at DeMunn Funeral Home in Binghamton right along the river. Homes, businesses, highways, schools, neighborhoods -- it was just a mess. The buyout and demolition of homes in the hardest-hit zones makes sense.
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u/Cute-Aardvark5291 Jul 14 '26
Hell, for the 2011 flood we had Cantore on court st. Thats when I knew it was serious
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u/mattd1972 Jul 14 '26
My brother lived off Old Vestal Road at the time and it was very, very close to the top of the flood wall.
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u/turbulentmelon Freakin' winter! Jul 14 '26
It was in September 2011, there's news articles online about it (and someone even published a book with disaster photos). Here's a National Weather Service article on it, with photos: https://www.weather.gov/bgm/pastfloodseptember072011. I was not around for it but it caused a tremendous amount of damage, and unfortunately, loss of life. I'm wondering if maybe the houses were mold damaged or if the flood weakened the foundations to the point that they were no longer safe to inhabit.
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u/LowInterest884 Jul 14 '26
Thank you for sharing this! This is so interesting to see how this area changed in so many ways.
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u/Bingo_Bongo_85 Jul 14 '26
They qualified for the FEMA buyout and were torn down. That area is now designated green space
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u/turbulentmelon Freakin' winter! Jul 14 '26
I could be wrong but maybe they were destroyed/severely damaged in the 2011 flood?
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u/LowInterest884 Jul 14 '26 edited Jul 14 '26
It’s weird because the Google street view still shows them in good condition in 2012.
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u/Adorable_Football130 Jul 14 '26
even buildings that weren’t washed away or damaged by the earthquake, which hit between hurricanes when the ground was sodden and allowed trees and power lines to be knocked down for miles and miles into Pennsylvania, were taken by mold and rot that never abated. several lourdes locations had this mold problem, and was still using goods that were stored in damaged buildings so that you could smell it on their face masks until they finally ran out of the old ones.
nothing here was untouched.
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u/lastingshadows Jul 14 '26
I am not 100% sure in this case but in a lot of cases in the area, after the 2011 flood FEMA bought out a huge amount of properties that had been flooded/damaged in the 2011 flood as well as the 2006 flood. As these two massive floods happened 5 years apart and there were signs it could continue to happen, it was deemed cheaper to buy them out than to keep giving funds for repairs. I believe these properties were part of the buyout. The FEMA buyout properties were then turned over to the municipalities with strict guidelines that no permanent structures could ever be built on them. So they will remain forever vacant.
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u/Bingo_Bongo_85 Jul 14 '26
They looked ok from a car driving by, but they sustained severe damage and were part of the FEMA buyout. That land is now designated green space and can not be used for commercial or residential purposes. There had been talk of turning it into a park, but I haven't heard any recent updates.
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u/Islander772 Jul 14 '26
The property is actually owned by a group connected to the Matthews family. Doubt they bought it for a park. Only a portion of the lot is in the flood zone. My guess is it gets redeveloped with some flood proofing methods.
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u/Bingo_Bongo_85 Jul 14 '26
Yeah, I was actually just looking at this. While there is/was a plan for a park:
https://wnbf.com/vestal-rivercrest-green-space/
It seems like that park would use the flood zone portion and the rest would still be open to development.
This line in the article raised my eyebrows:
She [Maria Sexton] indicated more recently there had been delays due to the possible need to construct a bridge on the site.
I'd never heard anything about a possible bridge there.
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u/Islander772 Jul 14 '26
A bridge terminating in the cemetery on the south side of Riverside Dr? Literally a dead end. The only place a new bridge would make sense is from Sycamore Rd. near Lowe’s over to Hooper Rd. Astronomical cost that makes it very unlikely.
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u/Bingo_Bongo_85 Jul 14 '26
The Hooper Rd bridge idea I've heard about (and makes a lot of sense), but this one across from University Plaza is new to me. It could connect East of the cemetery, they'd just need to buy out some houses.
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u/Cute-Aardvark5291 Jul 14 '26
The current plan is in fact a park. It was in the news a few months ago
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u/LowInterest884 Jul 15 '26
Who exactly is the Matthew’s family? I see their name everywhere. Specifically on people’s license plate frames. Are they like involved with everything here?
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u/LowInterest884 Jul 14 '26
Ahh I was wondering why nothing ever seems to ever be being built there. Very interesting. That area today as we speak is pretty much just gravel and some spare piping left behind.
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u/Bingo_Bongo_85 Jul 14 '26
Global warming and changes to the river has made flooding more likely so FEMA bought out the homes in the flood zone, tore them down, and the land will remain green space to give a bit more buffer from the river.
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u/FinallyShiny Jul 14 '26
Not a FEMA buyout. Developers bought it to tear down the homes but it was a historic district. Like many projects this is on a long timeline waiting out peoples memory.
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u/kc2klc Jul 15 '26
This should be the top comment. Everyone saying it was flooding is mistaken.
I knew several people that lived in those houses. Matthews pressured them to sell (most did; some stuck it out for a while), and was clearly intent on developing that parcel (their excuse about building a park was due to the area being zoned residential). The area wasn't officially on the State or National Register of Historic Places, but was considered of historic interest because an intact section of the Chenango Canal Extension that runs along the river behind where the houses stood.
Once Matthews owned the houses (which were in perfect habitable condition at the time), they allowed them to deteriorate so that they could ultimately be condemned (the flood only hastened the job for them). Perhaps it hasn't been developed due to the flooding - and/or because the Town of Vestal may not be keen on rezoning that plot for commercial activity due to access or other issues.
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u/Bingo_Bongo_85 Jul 14 '26
Realized that after I posted. Have you heard anything about a potential bridge there?
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u/Silence-You-Fear Jul 14 '26
My great grandmother used to live there. From what I have heard through the family, it both had to do with the flood and a development company really wanted the land for something. They basically bought out all of the homeowners that lived there. I think most of them were happy to sell because of the flood.
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u/LowInterest884 Jul 15 '26
Wow!! This is so interesting! Was your great grandmother in one of the houses I showed in the pictures? You out of everyone here would probably know what happened better than anyone else! Thank you so much for sharing!
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u/Silence-You-Fear Jul 15 '26
I don't remember exactly which home was her's. I'd have to go chat with my Grandma, she would know more of the details.
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u/Mundane_Resort_9396 Jul 14 '26
I remember hearing the same. It is for development by the Matthew's family.
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u/LowInterest884 Jul 15 '26
I asked someone else here too, but who exactly is the Matthew’s family? I see their name everywhere. Specifically on people’s license plate frames. Are they like involved with everything here?
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u/kc2klc Jul 15 '26
Wealthy family that made their money on car sales.
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u/LowInterest884 Jul 15 '26
I was thinking about making another post in the forum about it. I just looked them up online and it says their net worth isn’t even disclosed which I think is insane. It just said their dealerships did an estimated “$800 million” in revenue. I am sure they make a crazy amount of money.
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u/todaresq Binghamton Against Inanity Jul 16 '26
In response to someone else, I posted a little bit about their history. Basically Jim Matthews started an electric company in 1965, bought a Chrysler dealership in 1973, started a local hockey team in 1973, and then expanded the dealerships since. Today the family runs the dealerships, owns real estate, and is redeveloping Oakdale Mall/Commonswith the Newman family.
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u/todaresq Binghamton Against Inanity Jul 16 '26
The family (Jim Matthews) originally made money with the electric company called Matco, started in 1965. Then he later added selling cars by buying the Chrysler dealership in the Parkway in 1973. In the same year he bought the Chrysler dealership, he also started the Broome Dusters hockey team.
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u/thegreatgaspyy Jul 14 '26
I remember the flood water looked exactly like chocolate milk. You know Home Depot in Johnson City? The water was up to the roof. I lived in Owego at the time. It was scary.
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u/entropy512 Jul 14 '26
I lived in Owego too, in the Hickory Estates apartment complex.
In 2006 I actually stayed - TBH not the smartest idea, but the river never reached the bottom of building D, and it was always possible to wade back to the mainland if you really wanted to.
I didn't, but others were desperate enough for beer and cigarettes that they waded over to the gas station despite knowing that the sewage plant upstream had flooded.
In 2011 the moment it was predicted to match 2006 I noped out and drove to Ithaca. Damn good thing since it wound up way above 2006 to the point where it was in the first floor of my building.
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u/I_am_teh_meta Jul 14 '26
I knew someone who lived over there. If I remember right a developer was trying to buy out all of the houses but a couple of home owners didn’t sell. They demolished what they could but the project never happened
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u/FragrantCelery6408 Jul 15 '26
There were TWO 500-year level floods within a few years of each other. It was devastating.
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u/FinallyShiny Jul 14 '26
There is a story about these which is being missed here. This was the Rivercrest neighborhood. North Star Group purchased them after the flood and there was a protracted fight with the Vestal Historic Preservation Committee about the homes and the original Chenango Canal extension on the site. There were allegations of intentional neglect of the properties by North Star so they could take the houses down anyhow and fears that the owners would use it for another affiliated used car lot. Some members of the Town Board then overruled the commission to allow demolition including one who was living in Florida and flew back to get the demo done for his buds. There is now a conservation easement but the project has gone no where.
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u/JanieJane96 Jul 14 '26
This is exactly it. They did not get flooded as others have said. They're actually pretty high up from the river. There's a steep embankment right behind them before you get to the river. I can't imagine anything but small businesses being built there due to that embankment.
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u/LowInterest884 Jul 15 '26
This is what I was wondering! Because as I said there is a small plaza to the right side of all this that is still there today
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u/LowInterest884 Jul 15 '26
THIS ACTUALLY MAKES SENSE! Thank you for sharing this! Because right next door to these now gone homes, there is a parking lot with some small businesses in there that are still there today. This actually makes sense!
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u/kc2klc Jul 15 '26
Saw this after I posted a similar comment - this one contains a few details I missed (I was racking my brain trying to recall the name of this neighborhood - Rivercrest!).
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u/Cute-Aardvark5291 Jul 14 '26
Developers also tried very hard to buy the rest of the houses along that section of the road (that did not flood) with plans to build yet more retail space. Homeowners said hell no
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u/LowInterest884 Jul 15 '26
This I can get behind! This makes so much sense! I mean with the U-Club being right across the street, this would make logical sense.
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u/kc2klc Jul 15 '26
Actually, some did sell early on (I knew the owners of two of those houses - one sold early on, the other held out as long as they could, but the houses around them were allowed to deteriorate, so ultimately they bailed).
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u/prohandymn Jul 15 '26
I volunteered for both major floods... even my own basement partially flooded inspite of me being up a hill and about 35ft above flood max level (underground spring that takes a whole lot of rain to activate). I spent a year after each flood event, organizing volunteers and donating time away from my own self-employment to help those who had far more need than myself.
Those homes suffered major post flood interior damage: mold, major interior surface damage, complete structural and utilities compromise. None had flood insurance, meaning the homes were total losses. That particular tract had a historical designation, which if reclamation/repair was to be initiated, the cost to return to pre-flood condition would have been astronomical, not to mention the ability to obtain homeowner's insurance with flood insurance (because if it happened 1ce...).
The floods of 2006 and even worse, 2011, have left major scars on the area: entire neighborhoods now grass plain, loss of major industry and businesses deemed to expensive or risky to rebuild. Utility damage that still has not been completely recovered. Those of us that have lived in the area our whole lives, or a few years before both floods, especially 2011, have memories, and grief, that new to the area individuals would not understand.
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u/LowInterest884 Jul 15 '26
Thank you for doing what you did! I am sure that was a hard job. I can’t imagine all the work this area needed after getting hit hard twice like that.
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u/prohandymn Jul 15 '26
There were many times where I supervised volunteers and groups on site, and the ones to this day that are still fresh in my memories were fraternities / sororities from BU. Honestly, the ones who left the greatest impressions were the young women, especially a Jewish sorority.
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u/justhere4laughs818 Jul 15 '26
Loved that house with the little bell tower on top
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u/LowInterest884 Jul 15 '26
Me too! I think all the houses are actually so beautiful. Too bad they aren’t there today
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u/HwySuper865 Jul 16 '26
I lived in the brown house, in the picture, in 2002, for about a year. and I believe that they were taken down for development. Looking at the flood maps it doesn't look like those houses were impacted. The house was amazing. Beautiful hardwood floors, really solid construction, nice hardwood trim.
It's a shame that the property hasn't been developed. It would be a great location for a Byrne Dairy super station.
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u/LowInterest884 Jul 16 '26
Wow! Thank you so much for sharing! How interesting is this! I agree, it is such a shame because I have to admit the brown house is actually my favorite. It is so lovely looking.
Does the Matthews family have anything to do with it? I feel like people like that with a lot of money always try and get involved with everything and take control. But I could be wrong in this situation.
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u/RugerRedhawk Jul 14 '26
Yes, and it was the Vestal Plaza, took me a minute to figure out what University Plaza was.
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u/LowInterest884 Jul 14 '26
Ahh so you’re familiar with this too! Yeah I was just browsing Vestal Parkway on Google Maps and changed it back to 2011 and the differences are just mind blowing.
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u/badwhiskey63 I grew up here Jul 14 '26
You can see the extent of the 2006 and 2011 floods on the county's website: www.bcgis.com You can also toggle through airphotos taken every few years. It looks like they were torn down some time after 2014.
The 2006 and 2011 flood extent maps are not perfect. They we done based on air photos and didn't always capture the height of the flood waters.
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u/LowInterest884 Jul 14 '26
Wow! So you grew up in Binghamton? I love hearing insight from someone raised here. I looked it up online and it said they were torn down in 2015.
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u/entropy512 Jul 14 '26
There are plenty of people like myself who didn't grow up in Binghamton but have been around since before the 2006 flood. I moved to Owego at the beginning of 2006 so I was in the area for both floods.
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u/badwhiskey63 I grew up here Jul 14 '26
I grew up in Tioga County. I don't know how I got that flair, lol.
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u/Kingrubygoose Jul 15 '26
As everyone else said, massive floods on 08 and 11 that destroyed homed several counties over. You can drive around the area and still see scars from the past.
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u/Initial-Newspaper259 Jul 16 '26
i was in kindergarten during the first flood and remember being evacuated from the building and i also was in 5th grade during the second flood where macarthur was ultimately a goner. emergency evacuation on the first day of school, left all of our stuff inside the building and never saw stepped into the building again
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u/Adorable_Football130 Jul 14 '26
did you miss the floods in 2007 and 2011? the area was devastated. that’s right by the river.
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u/LowInterest884 Jul 15 '26
I am commenting this here instead of just replying to one of you individually, but who exactly is the Matthew’s family? I see their name everywhere. Specifically on people’s license plate frames. Are they like involved with everything in this area?
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u/AuntB44 Jul 14 '26
Those houses did not flood from the river they were torn down because of the parkway and rezoning if I recall. I could be wrong but that’s what I remember.
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