Dietz Street Lofts opens to tenants in Oneonta

Aug 02, 2023

Brigid Sullivan and her son Tim Sullivan were among the first tenants to sign leases for apartments at the Dietz Street Lofts in Oneonta, which opened Monday, July 31.

“The apartments are beautiful, brand new,” she said. “I believe I’m going to like living in town.”

The mother and son signed the lease Monday for a first floor apartment, a mobility-impaired unit with features such as a wheelchair-accessible kitchen sink and a walk-in shower enclosure.

“My husband passed away last year,” she said. “We have a 15-room house in Morris and I’m not able to care for it in any way.”

Tim, who is 36 years old and is a painter and visual artist, has a disability. He goes to the Main View Gallery and Studio, a program of The Arc Otsego.

Brigid Sullivan said that her son will be able to walk to his program — only about five blocks from their new home.

“We just feel very fortunate,” she said.

The 65 apartments at 34 Dietz Street are a mix of units within the four-story building — 40 one-bedroom artist lofts and 24 two-bedroom apartments designated for middle-income residents. Seven units are slated for people with mobility impairments and three units for people with hearing or visibility impairments.

Another apartment is reserved for an on-site building superintendent.

The Hartwick College Grain Innovation Center also is housed in the building, funded in part with a $180,000 grant from the Mohawk Valley Regional Economic Development Council.

The units are subsidized and have a lengthy application process.

Oneonta’s Planning Commission approved the site plan application in November 2019, the day after the city Common Council approved the sale of roughly a half-acre of the two-acre Dietz Street parking lot for $257,500.

The council approved the project in July 2019 for $16 million, including $1.47 million from city of Oneonta Downtown Revitalization Initiative funds — part of a $10 million state grant awarded in 2016.

Construction on the building began in April 2021, after the COVID-19 pandemic delayed groundbreaking that had been slated for 2020.

The building took over about 70 or 80 parking spots of the municipal parking lot there, but left between 250 and 300 spaces in that lot, according to Daily Star archives.

Azita Miller, a representative from project developer Kearney Realty and Development Group, of Baldwin Place, said Monday that she expected 35 to 40 new tenants to sign leases Monday.

“They love the building,” Miller said. “It’s really a beautiful building, I have to say.”

She added that she expects the building to be about 80% occupied by the end of August.

For Brigid Sullivan, living in Oneonta promises happy days ahead.

“[Tim] has friends that live around here, and they can work together,” she said. “I have grandchildren who just live three blocks away. It’ll be a lot more visitor friendly than Morris. It will be nice being in town.”

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