Ithaca Builds

Mapping, photos and information for Ithaca construction and development projects

Project Updates

Harold’s Square Moves Forward with City CIITAP Process

October 22, 2013 // by James Douglas

Harold’s Square moved closer to fruition as the developer held a public information session, as required by the project’s application for approval under the City of Ithaca’s density tax abatement incentive program (CIITAP).

Relative to the public information sessions for the Marriott and Holiday Inn projects, the Harold’s Square session was sparsely attended. Approximately five members of the public were present, as well first ward common council representative Cynthia Brock. Developer David Lubin fielded questions pertaining to how residential tenants would secure parking, the potential impact of construction on the loading area for adjacent business, and whether the project’s commercial and retail tenants were planning on paying a living wage to their employees. Mr. Lubin indicated that the wages paid by tenants were not under his control.

Council member Brock also asked about the labor Mr. Lubin intended to use for the construction, specifically whether plans had been made to utilize local union laborers, or firms that had apprenticeship programs and/or paid a prevailing wage. Mr. Lubin’s response was that he would attempt to use local labor, as long as the bids were competitive.

As to the general timeline of the project, Mr. Lubin stated that they are still working on bids for site remediation and demolition, and that further construction will be contingent on securing tenants and financing, meaning that an exact start date is still up in the air.

Now that the public information session has been held, the City will approve and forward their recommendation to the Tompkins County Industrial Development Agency for review, and the agency will make a determination on whether to grant the project a seven year partial property tax abatement. Expect a county level public hearing on the matter to be scheduled within the month.

Commons Rebuild Bump-Outs, Play Structure, Water Features & Amenities Presentation

October 21, 2013 // by Jason Henderson

Here’s a presentation piece from Sasaki Associates that will be showcased at tomorrow’s Planning Board Meeting (6pm, Common Council Chambers, City Hall). It includes a detailed rundown of the amenities that will be built into the Commons as part of this project. The presentation itself is quite large, so here’s the memo of the presentation and some images of the major features. You can download the full PDF here.

Hobby Lobby Big Box Taking Shape

October 21, 2013 // by Jason Henderson

Hobby Lobby’s entrance and front facade are taking shape, with contractors on site every day to prepare the store for its November 11th opening. Looking at it now, it’s actually quite amazing how fast this work is getting done, but that’s what large commercial contracting crews are good at. Automatic doors are in, lighting has been up for a few weeks- we should expect trucks unloading merchandising racks soon, then boxes of goods. Oh, and a big orange sign too.

Magnolia House New Sidewalk and Fencing

October 20, 2013 // by Jason Henderson

The Tompkins Community Action Magnolia House has a new sidewalk poured along Meadow Street, and there’s some new wood fencing being put up along the entryways and back side. Pavers have been installed on the north and south side entrances, and will continue along the back to form a patio area with flagstone benches. I’m not sure when the building is going to be completed, but there are still materials and tools on the inside.

Tompkins County Draft RFEI for The Old Library

October 20, 2013 // by Jason Henderson

Tompkins County administrators are set to release a Request for Expressions of Interest (RFEI) this December on the Old Library property that has been largely vacant and under-utilized ever since the new library building was built at the corner of Cayuga Street and Green Street. The responses will be due the following April, at which point every proposed and submitted project application will be reviewed. Embedded below is the draft RFEI document that was presented in the context of a $1.5 million plan to renovate and expand the Human Services Building so that the Community Justice Center can move out of the Old Library’s lower level by the first quarter of 2015 (meeting minutes also embedded below).
The Old Library’s site is .88 acres, and the building is 38,630 square feet. As soon as the current library was completed back in 2000 on the former Woolworth Department Store site, there have been plans by various developers to re-configure the Old Library for private use. At this point however, it may be less desirable or even feasible to renovate the existing building. The parcel (along with two adjacent parcels) was actually re-zoned by the City of Ithaca back in May to CBD-50, meaning zero side yard and front yard setbacks, and any new structure could go up to a 50 foot height as of right. The rezoning with adjacent parcels seems like a sign that the current structure may not be deemed suitable for reuse, and the draft RFEI is clearly stating that the county prefers development plans that will create housing for the aging, so a proposal like a new CCRC facility (Continuing Care Retirement Communities) would make sense.

Psychedelic exterior upgrades from Spring 2013:

Cayuga Waterfront Trail Phase Two Pathway Photos

October 19, 2013 // by Jason Henderson

Here are some photos along the pathway of the future trail to connect the Cass Park loop with the trail meeting the Ithaca Farmer’s Market. Besides the two bridges to be built across the inlet alongside Route 96, the path will go from the north alongside the end of 3rd Street, around Cornell’s Collyer boathouse and Ithaca College’s new (2010) Tallman boathouse, alongside the western shore before the inlet (around Cayuga Lake Cruises, Instant Printing, Enterprise), then west along Route 96.
The inlet portion of Route 96 seems to have plenty of space, and the trailhead sign and map are already located in a small park on the western side. The plan documents are here in a previous post.

Klarman Hall: Goldwin Smith Electric Duct and Scaffolding

October 17, 2013 // by Jason Henderson

The electric duct running around Goldwin Smith from East Ave. has been wrapped and is being covered-up again with soil and stone. It’s hard to tell from the photo, but the inner southern wing of Goldwin Smith has scaffolding running all the way up the side of the building. It looks like there’s new metal standing seam roofing material along the roof edges (the old lead coated copper stuff is going away), as called for in the roof replacement documents. Also, the plan is to cover all of the windows with sheathing to minimize any damage from the construction, especially the blasting of the hill to excavate for the retaining wall along East Ave.

Seneca Way is looking more and more like Seneca Way

October 17, 2013 // by Jason Henderson

The Seneca Way EIFS facade is almost entirely complete, with the exception of that one section on the eastern face that was passed-over when that side was being assembled and coated around a month ago. I imagine it’s staying unfinished until all the building materials have made their way inside through those windows from the lifts. The terrace looks due for its railing soon, and we’ll probably see the EFCO Sunshades go in above the windows as well. The second story bay windows for the office level have been installed, and the sidewalk stretching around the curve has been fully poured and floated.

…And they’re signing leases- move-ins begin January 2014, less than 3 months away.

Collegetown Terrace Buildings 5 & 6 Updated Photos

October 16, 2013 // by Jason Henderson

Novarr-Mackesey’s Collegetown Terrace project is still moving right along, with the enormous Building 5 (stretching the length of about two football fields) showing northern-face western facade installation, eastern-end additional wall stud framing, exterior wall wrapping and window installation.

There’s also fresh concrete poured over the ground level floors, additional wall sheathing and wall stud framing in the middle section all the way to the top level, and we have a full level of precast concrete planks laid out for the eastern section of Building 5 with wire mesh being set in place, perhaps for screed then a concrete floor float (see floor section detail below for a typical assembly).

Building 6 sits at the far north-eastern section of the site and I’m seeing steel framing for what may become an elevator/stair tower on the closest end, but also wall stud framing on the third level where apartment units will be built out. The levels below will be for parking, and there’s plenty of wire mesh on the floors since last visit.

Building 5:

Floor Section Detail:

Building 6:

Gates Hall Construction Fence is Down, Nice Views

October 15, 2013 // by Jason Henderson

The construction fence outside Gates Hall has been taken down and now you can get a really good perspective of what this building looks like. The entryway has been ongoing since around July, and there was a contractor working on the ceiling panels of the cantilever when I stopped by; there will be a section of what looks like a steel-reinforced glass floor (see render below) for those that like to tempt feelings of vertigo. There’s a bunch of rebar and rebar sheets stacked on the site, so I think part of the fence being taken down is to make room for trucks to compact the soil and start hardscaping for the rest of the entry. There’s also new curbing all the way around the site edges, and new asphalt.
Got a chance to see the infamous Thomas Mayne/Morphosis Cooper Union 41 Cooper Square project this weekend in NY- it’s wild in person, especially at night, as I imagine Gates Hall will be (Morphosis designed Gates Hall, as well as an impressive slew of other high-profile insitutional/corporate projects- see the Giant Interactive Campus in Shanghai; they’re also designing Cornell’s NYC Tech Campus)

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