The City of Rochester has received state approval to form a land bank.

Earlier this month, city officials submitted an application to Empire State Development, seeking to form the nonprofit Rochester Land Bank Corporation. The land bank will acquire vacant, abandoned, and tax-delinquent properties in the city and then turn them over to the Greater Rochester Housing Partnership's HOME Rochester Program. HOME Rochester will rehab the houses and sell them to first-time homebuyers.

A press release from the city says that the land bank corporation could begin acquiring properties as soon as this summer. For the first two years it operates, it'll take and transfer title to 25 properties.

City officials say a land bank is a helpful tool that will put properties back on the tax rolls and improve neighborhood property values.