Ithaca Builds

Mapping, photos and information for Ithaca construction and development projects

Project Updates

New Park Foundation Offices in the Seneca Way Building

February 7, 2014 // by Jason Henderson

roypark I was kindly invited to take a tour of the future office space for the Park Foundation in Seneca Way, and here are some photos and descriptions of the space, which is being finished-up near the end of this month.
For a brief history overview: The Park Foundation was established by Roy Hampton Park, Sr. in 1966. Roy H. Park had humble beginnings, as the son of a tenant farmer in North Carolina. He had a knack for writing, and began reporting for local newspapers at the age of 12, finished high school, and went to study at North Carolina State University. He worked his way up to a reporter’s position at the local Associated Press bureau by the time he graduated, and also editor-in-chief of his college paper. He pioneered ways of promoting cotton as public relations director for the North Carolina Cotton Growers Cooperative Association, then in 1942, moved to Ithaca to work for the Grange League Federation (which later became Agway). In the late 1940s, he teamed-up with food critic Duncan Hines to launch Hines-Park Foods, and their runaway success product “Duncan Hines Cake Mix.”
The company was acquired by Proctor & Gamble, and Park stayed on until 1962, around the time he began building a communications business, “Park Broadcasting, Inc.”, which was renamed Park Communications for a public offering in 1983. By the time of his passing in 1993, the company owned 21 radio stations, seven television stations, and 144 publications. He developed close relations with Ithaca College (Roy H. Park School of Communications), Cornell’s Johnson School, and North Carolina State University, serving in board and advisory roles. He left 70 percent of his holdings to the foundation, which provides support through scholarships in higher education, quality media that heightens public awareness of critical issues and protection of the environment.
I’ll gladly admit, I’m a big fan of Bill Moyers/ Moyers and Company and PBS FRONTLINE, both of which the foundation has supported over the years, along with hosts of scholars, public broadcasting agencies, environmental, social justice, and policy groups.

The move into this new space is a big upgrade for the foundation team, and I particularly like the work that has been done to design and lay out the space. LeChase Construction is working on this project, HOLT Architects is providing the design services, and the space is aiming for LEED Platinum Commercial Interiors certification. The HVAC system is a combination baseboard hot water and cooling units (above the drop ceiling), with LED lighting, occupancy sensors, and variable air volume duct fanning. The duct sizing is huge- ideal for saving energy since operating and circulation time is drastically reduced.

The main arterial hallway drives through the space, with offices and a couple meeting rooms along the outside walls, mainly work, utility, and bathrooms along the inside walls, and the reception area is in the middle of the action, providing visitors with a wide open space and view of the outside, opposed to many waiting room layouts that can feel tucked-away. The tile will be going in over the weekend, with carpeting following-up next week. The walls are mostly complete, and there are beautiful sets of wooden door and light-box/clerestory window frames that are being installed. All the glass should help light shine through the space, eliminating the need for electric lighting on sunny days. A total of twelve thermostats control the air service in the space, only kicking heat or cooling at the appropriate time to the areas necessary.

Shot of the layout here:

All in all, it’s going to be quite a nice office space once completed, and the location is impeccable. I should be following-up with photos from a tour of the apartment interiors next week.

Klarman Hall, Goldwin Smith Project Photos & Updated Floor Plans

February 3, 2014 // by Jason Henderson

Goldwin Smith Hall’s windows are completely boarded-up on the east sides facing East Ave, which has been closed to vehicular traffic minus bikes and busses starting a couple weeks ago. Construction fencing has been bumped-out into the western lane, and temporary lights have been installed to manage the traffic flow across the one lane. Roofing work on Goldwin as part of the enabling project is still progressing, but once that’s complete, we should see some further excavation work towards the very edge of East Ave, in order to install the retaining wall for the the eastern side of Klarman Hall that will be below ground level.
Cornell has setup a project page here with newly released floor plans, an FAQ section, and some additional information. Floor plan images posted below.

New final floor plans released:

Klarman-Hall-Goldwin-Project-Cornell-01301414

Klarman-Hall-Goldwin-Project-Cornell-01301412

Klarman-Hall-Goldwin-Project-Cornell-01301410

Klarman-Hall-Goldwin-Project-Cornell-01301409

Klarman-Hall-Goldwin-Project-Cornell-01301408

Klarman-Hall-Goldwin-Project-Cornell-01301407

Klarman-Hall-Goldwin-Project-Cornell-01301406

Klarman-Hall-Goldwin-Project-Cornell-01301405

Klarman-Hall-Goldwin-Project-Cornell-01301404

Klarman-Hall-Goldwin-Project-Cornell-01301403

Klarman-Hall-Goldwin-Project-Cornell-01301402

Klarman-Hall-Goldwin-Project-Cornell-01301401

Purity Ice Cream Site Walkthrough Photos

January 31, 2014 // by Jason Henderson

I had a walkthrough of the Purity Ice Cream project this past Wednesday with Bruce Lane, so here are some photos of what’s being worked on. The work is being done by Strawbridge and Jahn Builders.

From the outside, it’s probably not too noticeable yet- there’s a section of brick facade that has been removed on the opposite (north side), which will be replaced with a grayer toned brick, along with the walls towards the western end. The original building was built rather recently- back in 1953, and there have been three additions since then, and various renovations.

The current owners, Bruce and Heather Lane bought the business back in 1998, about a month before it was ready to close its doors due to financial insolvency. Ithaca seems rather fortunate in this regard: we have an abundance of individuals and local leaders investing their personal time and capital in order to keep cherished places and businesses alive.

The Purity operation used to distribute all sorts of goods around town beyond ice cream- almost like a general goods delivery service. Once large national distribution companies like SYSCO began to emerge and compete, typically the smaller town-based and regional distributors were either bought out, shifted business, or went out of business.

View from South on Meadow Street:

Former line queue and serving counter- the space will be reworked for more efficient serving:

Former bathrooms for customers- new bathrooms will be slightly larger, with a shared hallway:

Future prep area and mechanical closets (part of the second addition- the windows and concrete block wall to the left were the original face of the building, then this new section was added, where you can see the corrugated steel on the ceiling):

Former production room to become a generous seating area:

Render from North edge of the lot:

Future floor plan for first floor:

More information here:
Purity Ice Cream
John Snyder Architects

Thurston Ave Apartments Foundation Work

January 30, 2014 // by Jason Henderson

Rabco’s Thurston Avenue Apartments project is showing more foundation work since last time I swung around in late December. Concrete has been poured and covered for the foundation footers, and vertical rebar is in place for concrete block reinforcement. There are pallets of foam board insulation around the site to be used for foundation wall insulation once the block walls are assembled. The trenches for the foundation usually aren’t backfilled with soil until the ~~modular pieces are secured on top of the foundations.~~
I’ve just learned that in fact, this project is not going to be modular, much to my amazement. An August deadline is going to be quite a difficult task for stick-built, but I suppose where there’s a will, there’s a way.

Here’s a double three bedroom unit floor plate from the site plan review documents:

Hart Hotels’ Holiday Inn Re-Branded to Hotel Ithaca, and Some History

January 29, 2014 // by Jason Henderson

The Holiday Inn of downtown Ithaca officially re-branded to the Hotel Ithaca at the beginning of this year. The hotel is owned & operated by Hart Hotels (principal David Hart), a Buffalo-based group, and the plans for the second tower are still a go, as the existing tower is currently being renovated and upgraded since the start of the slow season here in the cold. Nearly all of the work right now is focused on interior renovations, and the Spring should see the start of the demolition of the one-story room wings to make space for the new tower.
The project is still seeking a property tax abatement through the CIITAP program for a seven year graduated assessment break for the increased value of lot improvements that are to be assessed for the new tower.

Photoshopped render from Trip Advisor– new sign should look nice.

The new brand (either purposefully, or unintentionally) brings to mind the since demolished “Ithaca Hotel,” which sat on the corner of North Aurora and East State Streets, and was built in 1872, and demolished in 1967. The original Ithaca Hotel was first built in 1809 by Luther Gere, although a “Mr. Vroorman” had a public house of the same name around that time as well. Mr. Gere was a carpenter’s apprentice, then he ran a tavern he built around the future hotel site from 1805, then built the three-story wood building, which burnt down in 1871. The structure in the photo below is the rebuilt hotel, a four-story brick building designed by A. B. Dale. The hotel could accommodate 200 guests, and 175 diners, and had billiard tables and sample rooms, and a popular Dutch Kitchen. (From Ithaca and its Past and Landmarks of Tompkins County)

Courtesy of The History Center in Tompkins County

Longest Night Solstice Towers Photo Update

January 28, 2014 // by Jason Henderson

Here’s a photo update of the Barradas & Partners / Ciappa & Marinelli Longest Night Solstice Towers project with photos taken at different stages during the past few weeks. Work is well underway on the second tower: the foundation walls were built and sealed on top of the foundation footers, joists and subfloor for the ground level were hung, ground floor walls assembled, and floor joists for the second level were just finished-up today. There’s now a poster of the project design near Seneca Street, on the fencing that surrounds the site (to be used for growing vegetables this Spring and Summer) for those interested in taking a look.

The Carey Building II

January 27, 2014 // by Jason Henderson

For the purposes of this site, I’d rather not focus on the end-use of the project (rather, the physical details of the project), but coincidentally, The Economist ran a nice, in-depth Special Report on Tech Startups this past January 18th edition, which provides some thorough information on business incubators, accelerators, corporate venturing, and their differences. The planned incubator for this space will be a coordination between Cornell, IC, and TC3. Cornell is betting heavily on the academic-private model for the development of its Cornell NYC Tech Campus, which will be leveraging NYC’s large, and growing tech business community.

The structural members are all steel-reinforced concrete columns and beams, with a brick facade, in some parts backed-up by terra cotta. Many of the original interior walls are cellular gypsum block, covered in plaster. One of the challenges with older brick buildings is the northern walls- brick is very porous, so buildings in the north with brick north faces get exposed to lots of precipitation, but little sunlight. The resulting moisture makes its way through and erodes the plaster in older structures that don’t have a moisture membrane. One of the options is to build the wall inward, or simply clean up and re-plaster with more moisture resistant cover.

Column cut showing steel bar and spiral steel reinforcement:

Gypsum Block:

Roof ceiling at filled-in section, with beam-to-column connection. The beam depth and column masses are quite large, typical of buildings built in the early days of reinforced concrete:

Here are some existing conditions photos:

There’s a lot of demolition work to be done before any construction begins. The ceiling grid, almost all existing interior walls, former plaster drop ceiling, HVAC, electric, etc., all get removed. The incubator space is going for a much more open floor plan, so the best option is to basically clear everything out and start new. There’s some remediation work to be done as well, typical of projects with older building materials. The floor to roof deck height is quite generous, so the final space will have a much taller ceiling height than it does now. The windows provide a lot of natural light as well, since they’re located all along the northern, eastern and southern faces, which have generous setbacks before any adjacent structures. Once the office enclosures are removed, the space will probably be relatively well-lit during the day from sunlight.

Purity Ice Cream Demolition Phase

January 24, 2014 // by Jason Henderson

The Purity Ice Cream project has been moving ahead, with the demolition phase closing-in on completion as interior walls and built-ins are removed, some asbestos containing materials are remediated, and the brick facades removed. The asbestos removal is wrapping-up by early next week- the whole project is closed-up at the moment so particles don’t escape during the process. Following Purity’s Facebook Page will get you some great photos and updates about the project as it is unfolding, and here’s a selection of photos from just before demolition and during, taken from the posts so far. I’ll be swinging by next week to take a look at the progress, and should have some new final renders from John Snyder Architects to post shortly- their Facebook page also has some nice shots from photographer Gary Hodges.

Press Bay Alley Getting Close to Opening Day

January 23, 2014 // by Jason Henderson

Swung by today, and besides final interior painting, roof trim fascia, some gutter work, and final electric, this project is nearing completion. John Guttridge, the owner, indicated that everything should be done sometime around the end of this month. I hope to see some adventurous tenants move in- it’s a cool space, perfect for a small cafe or a retail concept to get off the ground, especially since there’s ample space in front of each bay to stretch into once the weather gets nice in the Spring. Looking forward to opening day.

Before Photo:

Dey & Third Streets Crossing Improvements

January 22, 2014 // by Jason Henderson

Crossing improvements for Third Street and Dey Street, along with a connection to the existing Cayuga Waterfront Trail have been in the works, and may commence as soon as this Spring or Summer. Here are the drawings from Fisher Associates for work to be completed, and a map for reference.

The City of Ithaca Board of Public Works authorized a final item last November (to acquire and compensate for necessary real property) to move the project forward, and is expected to release a bid request this month or next, February 2014.

Third Street crossing at Carpenter Circle, Third Street Extension, and the Cayuga Waterfront Trail:

Connection to existing Cayuga Waterfront Trail:

Third Street crossing Route 13:

Dey Street crossing Route 13:

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