Advertisement. Advertise with us

No Applications Yet

To Develop Upstairs

2nd Round Of DRI Funding

Aimed At 2nd-Floor Housing

By LIBBY CUDMORE • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com

Planners have high hopes for downtown Oneonta’s future, as envisioned in this artist’s rendering. Check out the DRI home page.

ONEONTA – If you want a successful downtown, Elizabeth Horvath says, you have to look up.

“You need residents living downtown to make it an active place, not just come in, work and then leave,” she said. “When you see vacant second and third floors, it doesn’t lend itself to a vibrant Main Street.”

On Monday, June 3, the City of Oneonta began accepting applications for a second round of Downtown Revitalization Initiative grants, this one to create “high-quality
upper-story housing units” in the downtown.

As of presstime Tuesday evening, no applications had been received, but the deadline isn’t until July 12.

Building on that, said Project Selection chair Kim Muller, the second round aims to “catalyze the creation of high-quality housing that will attract more residents to our increasingly vibrant downtown.”

The goal, said Mayor Gary Herzig, is to fill an “unmet need for improved housing for young professionals and early retirees” in the “wealth of downtown buildings with vacant or underutilized upper stories.”

“If you walk down Main Street and look up, you see quite a few vacant floors,” he said.
The funds are to be used for market-rate, year-round housing. “There’s a shortage of housing for young professionals and retirees,” said Horvath. “We want the kind of housing like Chip Klugo and Brett Bresee built, that rented so fast.”

“We’re looking for no more than two bedrooms,” said Muller. “We want to see the kind of state-of-the-art kitchens and features that attract people who want this kind of housing.”

But it doesn’t have to be built from scratch.

“If a building owner wanted to convert, for instance, student rentals into year-round housing, that would be an eligible project,” said Herzig.

To qualify, the applicant must put together a plan including a current and proposed floor plan, a budget and a project scope. “We don’t need architectural blueprints, but we need enough to show that the project meets our guidelines,”he said.

However, priority will be given to more thorough plans. “If someone comes in with a full set of blueprints and an architect, they’re more likely to receive funding than someone who comes in with a project drawn on a proverbial cocktail napkin,” said Horvath.

In all, $400,000 in grants from the city’s Downtown Improvement Fund is available, left over from the $2.3 million awarded by the state for the project. The first round drew nearly 100 applications, with 63 projects ranging from new signage to a complete transformation of the Tomaino building receiving $1.9 million in funding.

The money can be used to cover up to 50 percent of project costs, said Horvath, with the owner putting in the remaining equity.

However, if any winners of the $2 million in the first round, announced in March, do not follow through, that money will be folded into the second round. “The total amount is not definitive,” said Herzig. “Depending on what projects are not followed through, it could be significantly more.”

Information and applications will be on the city’s website, or from Elizabeth Horvath, Delaware Engineering, at (607) 432-8073 or ehorvath@delawareengineering.com.

Posted

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

Related Articles

SCOLINOS: It’s All We Need To Know: Home Plate 17 Inches Wide

COLUMN VIEW FROM THE GAME It’s All We Need To Know: Home Plate 17 Inches Wide Editor’s Note:  Tim Mead, incoming Baseball Hall of Fame president, cited John Scolinos, baseball coach at his alma mater, Cal Poly Pomona, as a lifelong inspiration, particularly Scolinos’ famous speech “17 Inches.” Chris Sperry, who published sperrybaseballlife.com, heard Scolinos deliver a version in 1996 at the American Baseball Coaches Association in Nashville, and wrote this reminiscence in 1916 in his “Baseball Thoughts” column. By CHRIS SPERRY • from www.sperrybaseballlife.com In 1996, Coach Scolinos was 78 years old and five years retired from a college coaching…

Sports Can Resume, Superintendents Told

CLICK HERE FOR MEMO TO SCHOOLS Sports Can Resume, Superintendents Told COOPERSTOWN – In a memo released Friday evening, county Public Health Director Heidi Bond advised local school superintendents that sports can resume as early as Monday. “Effective Feb. 1, participants in higher-risk sports may participate in individual or distanced group training and organized no/low-contact group training,” Bond wrote, “…including competitions and tournaments, if permitted by local health authorities.”…

Piper Seamon Scores 1,000th point

1,000 THANKS! Piper Seamon 5th CCS Girl To Hit High Mark The Cooperstown Central student section erupts as Piper Seamon scores her 1,000th career point in the Hawkeyes’ 57-39 win over Waterville at home last evening. Seamon becomes the fifth girl and only the 14th player in school history overall to score 1,000 points.  Inset at right, Pipershares a hug with teammate Meagan Schuermann after the game was stopped to acknowledge her achievement. Seamon will play basketball next year at Hamilton College. (Cheryl Clough/AllOTSEGO.com)  …

Putting the Community Back Into the Newspaper

Now through March 30, new annual subscribers to “The Freeman’s Journal” and AllOtsego.com (or subscribers who have lapsed for two or more years) have an opportunity to help their choice of one of four Otsego County charitable organizations.

$5.00 of your subscription will be donated to the nonprofit of your choice:

Cooperstown Farmers’ Market, Cooperstown Food Pantry, Greater Oneonta Historical Society or Super Heroes Humane Society.