Bank Alley continues to take shape as Raulli & Sons secured the Bernie Milton Pavilion roof assembly on the structure last week. Syrstone continues to spread stone base and install pavers along Bank alley, and future planters and benches are taking form along the eastern extension to Aurora Street. Power & Construction has already completed wiring and round footings for the pole lamps, which will permanently replace the temporary lighting as the surfaces phase progresses.
Photos taken October 30th:
New sidewalk bump-out around Starbucks and Kilpatricks:
Photos taken November 3rd:
The New Bernie Milton Pavilion:
Binghamton-based William H. Lane Inc. General Contractors has been selected to lead the construction for the downtown Ithaca Marriott project, which should be breaking ground later this year. The project is being developed by Urgo Hotels, a group out of Bethesda, Maryland with over 30 hotels under management.
The Marriott will be a 159-room, 10-story hotel with a restaurant/bar on the lobby level designed by Cooper Carry. The total development cost was pegged at $32 million, and is scheduled for spring 2017 completion.
Below are the updated renders and site plan review materials, reflecting the final designs and materials for the project:
The sprinkler pipe-fitters have made their way from the ground floor to 5th, and interior metal stud walls were roughed-in on the ground through the third floor with bottom plate layouts installed on the fourth as of late last week. Shower stalls have made their way into more than a dozen bathrooms, as plumbing risers and pipes are fitted alongside wall completions. A paint contractor has been spraying down the structural steel with fire retardant intumescent paint (the white coating). The structure topped-out on October 2nd with a press event and completion is scheduled for early 2015.
The Statler Hall Entry Renovation has been opened-up since late August, but the interior work and all exterior finishes are now complete. Here are some final photos for the project, which began in early summer, and took out the western-facing 1987 arched limestone entryway to replace with a new limestone and glass-wrapped 450 square foot vestibule and expanded space on the second floor above. Photos throughout construction may be seen on the project category page.
The Ithaca Commons Rebuild Project crews have begun laying pavers over top of stone bases along Bank Alley, and several sections of concrete have been poured along Bank Alley and the east end for the floor and planter boxes, along with tube pours for the pole lighting systems. Steel sections of the new Bernie Milton Pavillion arrived in mid-October, and crews have been welding together the frame for the roof at the end of Bank Alley. The Home Dairy Alley also received a new concrete walkway. Previous design posts here (part one link) and here (part two link).
The downtown Hampton Inn project has chosen to be one of the first eleven hotels in the US and London to build the newly-released Canopy by Hilton. As issued in Hilton’s press release last week, the Ithaca Commons project will take part in Hilton’s new lifestyle brand, which plans to cater to travelers that would like a more local, and leisurely experience. The renders released last month by the project team of Baywood Hotels, Architects Group One Partners, and Whitham Planning and Design seem to reflect the Canopy branding and design approach.
The planned seven-story hotel sits in roughly the footprint of the former Strand Theatre (parking lot behind the Carey Building) and the City’s municipal parking lot. The ground floor would include a 2,000 square foot restaurant tenant, a cafe/retreat area, and hotel programming space and the second floor is planned to contain a fitness room, board room, and meeting room. Guest rooms would fill the remaining portion of the second floor and all the way up to the seventh, along with a roof terrace. The project is currently in site plan review at the City of Ithaca Planning Board.
Here’s the press kit portion explaining the amenities, along with the September render and plan release:
Small update here since a couple weeks ago, but the 140 College Ave 12-bedroom, 3,800 SF addition project has finished-up foundation work, and the lower level and a portion of the first level have been framed-up in the past week. The wood sole (or bottom) plates were installed around the perimeter base, then then the walls laid out and installed, along with floor joists for the first floor, exterior sheathing (plywood and OSB) and subfloor (DryPly). The addition should be fully-framed and closed-up for winter so that it’s ready in time for the next Fall semester.
42 days and counting down as of this post: TC3’s 17,000 square foot Coltivare project for the Farm to Bistro Program is continuing progress, with more wall and flooring finish installations, interior storefront windows and doors, HVAC ductwork, kitchen appliance finishes, various electrical and lighting, and drop ceilings. The space will house a public restaurant, full kitchen, cooking lab, and a lounge with offices and restrooms.
The project sits atop Libe Slope, aligned with the statues of Ezra Cornell, between McGraw and Morrill Halls, and the statue of Andrew D. White in front of Goldwin Smith Hall. The surface engravings show the timeline along the horizontal granite midsection, and the vertical and horizontal engravings on the benches are of famous quotes from Cornellians.
“We have not invited you to see a university finished, but to see one begun.” -Ezra Cornell
The Belle Sherman Cottages project developed by Agora Development and built by Carina Construction has been on a roll with home sales this year, with only one home remaining to be sold. Deposits are currently being taken for the townhome units, of which there will be ten total (Karen Eldridge is the listing agent for brokerage). There were four homes currently underway when I stopped by October 5th, one of which (Lot 18) looks finished-up, with the others to be completed soon. The foundations are excavated, poured, and CMU block wall foundations assembled before Simplex modular pieces are brought on site and fitted. The interior is finished out at the same time each structure is roofed, sided, and porches, driveway, garage, and various finishes built.