Ithaca Builds

Mapping, photos and information for Ithaca construction and development projects

327 Eddy Street Mixed-Use Building Proposal

June 30, 2014 // by Jason Henderson

No doubt, more housing for collegetown here as Ithacating noted last week: the Fontana Apartments building (Club Sudz, former Tung Fong, and Pixel bar in back) may be demolished to make way for a stepped-foundation 6-story mixed-use building to contain 28 apartments on the upper floors and probably retail commercial on the ground floors (plus core space for utilities and stairwells/elevator). The sketch plan submission images are below, done by Architect Jagat Sharma.

I can’t help but be reminded of the Old Town/Royal Mile in Edinburgh, Scotland, where some of the earliest-recorded skyscrapers were built to a height up to 14-stories high, aided by stepped foundations along the steep hillside of the ridge below the castle, so many of the floors were partially supported by solid ground, then stepped-down further up or down. Still, in the days before modern concrete and steel framing techniques, it must have been quite a feat, since they were built entirely out of stone for foundations and facades, and wood framing (a fire in 1700 forced many of these down, however, a large amount of great buildings remain in excellent condition, part of the reason it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site).

This parcel shows a lot of 52 x 119 feet, so if we back-out rear-yard setback and the courtyard areas, six stories times ~5,000 SF per floor gets to a rough total of ~30,000 SF. Minus ground floor commercial (5,000 including some mechanical space) and circulation (say around 12% for the remaining floors), average unit size may be around 800 SF.

327 Eddy Street - Mixed-Use Building - Sketch Plan Drawings - 06-24-14_Page_1

327 Eddy Street - Mixed-Use Building - Sketch Plan Drawings - 06-24-14_Page_2

327-Eddy-Fontana-Apartments-Ithaca-0628141

327 Eddy Street - Mixed-Use Building - Sketch Plan Drawings - 06-24-14_Page_4

327 Eddy Street - Mixed-Use Building - Sketch Plan Drawings - 06-24-14_Page_3

Full Plans Here