The construction of two student apartments located behind Valley Liquor Shop—both owned by Teri Thielges—will be completed by April. The apartments are entirely framed and soon the flooring, dry wall, insulation, heat and electric work will be underway. The apartments will also have air conditioning and high-energy furnaces. According to Thielges, there will be two units in the building, each of which can house up to three people. The apartments will also be fully furnished with a fully equipped kitchen. Thielges added that the exterior will include historical colors, such as a smoky green and beige trim with surrounding stone wall.
“I put a lot of windows in the apartments because the piece of property is south-facing, so I wanted a lot of good natural light in there,” she said. “The lighting will be really subtle and I’m going to do mostly stone work back there.”
Security will consist of cameras on the outside of the building. Thielges added, however, that she does not think safety will be an issue.
“I’m confident it will be one of the more secured places, just given that the bank has exterior cameras and it’s kind of a higher profile area,” she said.
The rent cost for the apartments has yet to be decided.
“We haven’t quite nailed it down yet because we’re toying with two different ways of pricing—whether we do an all-inclusive, which is how I rent my apartment upstairs … or whether we do it so you pay your own utilities,” Thielges said. “It’ll be cheaper than the townhouses on campus, but it won’t be as cheap as some of the homes in town.”
Due to the building’s central location, Thielges believes business on Main Street will increase.
“I think if there are six more people living in the area that you’ll see more business on Main Street because that is what’s convenient,” she said.
Thielges has just started advertising for the project, putting a banner in Valley Liquor and having her son create a website for the apartments. Thielges explained that she has had about three or four groups of students interested in the apartments, as well as local townspeople.
“It really would be great for a couple of professionals or a professor,” she said. “The student market is good, also. But we’re hoping to do students; that would be preferable.”
Thielges added that she does not plan on doing background checks and instead will interview potential renters, showing them the building and negotiating the rent.
According to Thielges, the project has been in the works conceptually for a year and a half. In order to get the townhouses approved, Thielges had to draw a set of plans and to present them to the Village Board.
She explained that part of her inspiration for this project came from her son.
“My son was a SUNY Geneseo graduate,” she said. “We got together and noticed there was a little bit of a need for more upscale housing off campus and we got motivated by that.”
Thielges also added that her daughter served as a second source of inspiration for the construction of the apartments.
“The other part of the inspiration is my daughter, who graduated from college and moved down to Charlottesville, [Va.],” she said. “She rents a really nice condo right downtown and she’s able to walk to work and markets … there is a trend for people not owning these ‘big homes.’”
The apartments will be replacing a ministorage unit owned by Thielges that has been on the property for approximately 30 years.