Those much-loathed X placards are ubiquitous around Albany, symbols of a decline that has left too many neighborhoods plagued by vacant buildings. Many of us have grown used to seeing them.

But when the red placards went up recently on two of the historic Tudor-style homes on Holland Avenue, alarm bells went off for those who admire the houses and fear they could be razed. "Seems more demos by neglect are in Albany's future," said one of the readers who contacted me.

The fear is reasonable. The six homes at 100-112 Holland, across from the Stratton VA Medical Center, have been empty for a decade — and vacancy usually means deterioration. Meanwhile, the land they sit on is valuable for redevelopment.

Losing the houses, built in the 1930s, would be more than a shame. They are lovely, with stained-glass windows and intricate detail. They sit on a rise above busy Holland Avenue, behind sloping lawn and mature trees. They are part of Albany's rich architectural history.

The homes were built by Jesse Leonard, a developer responsible for large swaths of the city. The house at 100 Holland Ave. was his retirement home, built with a tiled indoor fountain and elaborately designed plaster reliefs. Leonard lived there until he died in 1956.

"I've never seen anything like those architectural features in a house in Albany, and I've been in a lot of houses," City Historian Tony Opalka once told me.

I contacted Picotte Cos., the longtime owner of the houses, when readers started reacting to the X placards, but I wasn't optimistic. I've reached out to Picotte for previous columns about the Tudors and officials at the Colonie-based development company had never deigned to respond with answers.

This time was different. On Thursday, I met with Nancy Carey Cassidy, chief operating officer at Picotte, at the company's Corporate Woods headquarters. Chris Spencer, the city's planning director, was also there.

Cassidy stressed three points. One, the X placards do not mean demolition is imminent. The X signs went up, Cassidy said, because Picotte boarded over exits to keep trespassers away. She added that the company regularly inspects and maintains the houses.

Two, the company does not see a long-term future for the houses at their current site. Cassidy and Spencer both talked about how the houses do not fit in a largely commercial neighborhood dominated by big buildings.

"They're kind of an island," Spencer said. "The surroundings are not all that conducive to single-family housing."

Three, Picotte wants the Tudors to survive — somewhere else. The company is ready to donate the houses to a person or organization willing to relocate the houses and is even willing to kick in $100,000 toward the effort.

Could such a thing really happen?

Well, it almost did.

Three years ago, Picotte and Habitat for Humanity Capital District nearly agreed to a plan that would have moved two of the houses — at an estimated cost of $70,000 each — for use by the nonprofit organization. Habitat, worried about future maintenance costs for lower-income tenants, ultimately backed out of the plan.

"It just didn't make sense for what we do," Christine Schudde, the group's executive director, told me.

In the years since, Picotte has not found a group or person willing to take the homes off their hands, which, of course, should worry anyone concerned about their long-term survival. They are not protected by any historic designation.

Why not just find uses for them where they are? Unfortunately, neither Cassidy nor Spencer seemed to think that was a viable or reasonable option.

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But I don't think it would be difficult to find residential occupants. While it's true Holland Avenue is no suburban cul-de-sac, or even a typical city neighborhood, Albany has seen an influx of residents into non-traditional areas like downtown and the warehouse district.

Plus, the Tudors are just beautiful homes. They might not be for everybody, but they have charms that would appeal to at least a handful of buyers willing to pay for needed upgrades and costs.

Cassidy didn't say this, but the bigger issue, of course, is that houses are not the highest-value use for the land, which is zoned for commercial uses. In other words, Picotte will make more if the site is redeveloped. Tax revenue to the city would presumably increase, too.

"If you look up and down that corridor, you would expect to see mixed-use buildings or medical office buildings on the site," Spencer said, later adding that the city could not stop demolitions of the Tudors if Picotte had a viable replacement plan.

Cassidy and Spencer said they're optimistic the houses can be moved to what they consider a more suitable site. But doing so will take a partner willing to take and move the houses, even though doing so is unlikely to make financial sense.

So who wants them? Anybody?

Anybody?