At the former Middletown Psychiatric Center, the owner of 85 acres of mostly open land owes $407,306 in city and school taxes from 2006, plus interest. The City of Middletown bought the lien against the property Friday at a tax lien sale.

City lawyer Alex Smith said the lien increases the interest rate that the property owner, Montrose VA Project. must pay the city on the back taxes. If the taxes remain unpaid, the city would eventually foreclose. The owners have two years to pay off the taxes, said city Finance Director Dawn Gobeo.

In September, developers working with the Montrose owners had proposed a $30 million to $35 million project on the 85-acre site.

It’s a shame that it’s come to this.  Not only did several members of my family work there over the years, I played softball as a kid on their fields, rode my bike on the grounds, got into snowball fights, hung out with patients young and old, and had a grand ol’ time.  I even did research there for my 10th grade American Government class.  The library there was the only place at the time I could find information on AIDS and my mother helped me to understand all the medical and technical terms.

I loved looking at the big houses the doctors used to live in and was able to go into several.  They are just as beautiful on the inside as they are on the outside.  Unfortunately, most have fallen into disrepair and many more are gone completely.  I enjoyed traversing the long corridors of the many buildings, from Letchworth, where my mom was first assigned, to Tukerman Hall, where most of the elderly patients were.

I’ve watched the Psych Center slowly go downhill during my lifetime and it seems inevitable that all the buildings on this once magnificent site will soon be gone, replaced with whatever the new owners desire.  It’s sad to see such a useful site fall away and the owners unable, or unwilling, to pay their taxes.  Maybe something grander will replace it.  At least I’ll still have my memories.