Ithaca Builds

Mapping, photos and information for Ithaca construction and development projects

Stone Quarry Apartments Updated Design Renders

July 14, 2014 // by Jason Henderson

The designs for Ithaca Neighborhood Housing Service‘s 35-unit Stone Quarry Apartments project have been further revised, and new renders were released for the final City Site Plan Review last month, as noted by BC on Ithacating. The plans remain largely the same for 400 Spencer Road, as INHS will be building:
16 three-bedroom Townhouses
2 three-bedroom Apartments
11 two-bedroom Apartments
6 one-bedroom Apartments

National contractor Lecesse Construction with an office out of Henrietta, NY has been tapped for General Construction, with sub-contracting bids currently being solicited this month.

Lecesse

400 Spencer Road - INHS - Revised Site Plan Drawings - 06-16-14_Page_05

Updated renders for Townhouse Units:

400 Spencer Road - INHS - Revised Site Plan Drawings - 06-16-14_Page_18

400 Spencer Road - INHS - Revised Site Plan Drawings - 06-16-14_Page_16

400 Spencer Road - INHS - Revised Site Plan Drawings - 06-16-14_Page_14

Apartment Building:

400 Spencer Road - INHS - Revised Site Plan Drawings - 06-16-14_Page_17

400 Spencer Road - INHS - Revised Site Plan Drawings - 06-16-14_Page_15

Design by HOLT Architects, Trowbridge Wolf Michaels Landscape Architects, and Elwyn & Palmer Consulting Engineers.

INHS Stone Quarry Apartments Revised Site Plan & Design

June 14, 2014 // by Jason Henderson

Ithaca Neighborhood Housing Services has submitted an updated site plan and designs for the Stone Quarry Apartments project, on the site of the Ithaca Dispatch (behind Cole Muffler on Spencer Street). The updated plans are the result of new information on site conditions (existing soil), and constructability (design issues and cost projection).

The revised site plan shows the same unit breakdown, 6 additional parking spaces, modified site walkways, a new fence along Spencer and no rear doors exiting to Spencer due to the site grading requirements, and Mews (interior courtyards) between the buildings. The loading zones have been reduced in size (allowing for more parking) due to the change in zoning requirements, the balconies have been nixed in favor of windows, and the facades have been updated. The plan outlines the intention to resolve the final review this month, for a building permit issue in August to begin sitework in September this year. The development would build:
16 three-bedroom Townhouses
2 three-bedroom Apartments
11 two-bedroom Apartments
6 one-bedroom Apartments

The design has been completed by HOLT Architects, Trowbridge Wolf Michaels Landscape Architects, and Elwyn & Palmer Consulting Engineers.

Full PDF Here, original November 2012 submission here

Stone Quarry Apartments - Site Plan Updates - 05-22-14 (dragged) 4

Stone Quarry Apartments - Site Plan Updates - 05-22-14 (dragged)

Stone Quarry Apartments - Site Plan Updates - 05-22-14 (dragged) 2

Stone Quarry Apartments - Site Plan Updates - 05-22-14 (dragged) 7

Former Neighborhood Pride Site Acquired by INHS

June 3, 2014 // by Jason Henderson

This story popped-up in the news last week, and it’s worth noting due to its size and location. The former Neighborhood Pride grocery store and the next door parcel containing Youth Advocates Inc. of Tompkins County will be sold to Ithaca Neighborhood Housing Services (INHS) for $1.7 million. The total site is 90,530 square feet, zoned B-2a, so a re-development is zoned for mixed-uses (residential and commercial), with a maximum four-story (40 foot) build, and lot coverage of 50%, meaning that the full allowable space is over 200,000 square feet. I’m not sure of the condition of the current buildings, but they don’t seem suited for residential conversion, so I would bet that a full demo and full site redevelopment would make sense here. Given that the immediate area is Fall Creek, this will probably be the largest residential project done in the northern part of town since the Northside Developments were built in the 1950s, but there’s ample demand.

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INHS’s Greenways Project

May 18, 2014 // by Jason Henderson

Greenways is a project by Ithaca Neighborhood Housing Services, proposing to build 46 affordable townhouses in a three-phase approach along the East Hill Recreation Way in the Town of Ithaca with a similar style to the Holly Creek Townhomes. Ithacating released details of the plan in 2013, which had formerly been a project between Cornell and a private developer, with the idea of building 67 townhomes for Cornell employees. INHS has since picked up the process, and is planning to tie-in the adjacent Strawberry Hill Road, Harwick Drive, and Eastwood Avenue in woonerf-style roads, with the townhouses clustered at each side. The sketch plan project proposal will be heard at the Town Of Ithaca’s Planning and Development Board Meeting this Tuesday, May 20th, in the Town Hall.

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Affordable Housing in Ithaca (Part One)

April 23, 2014 // by Jason Henderson

Odds are, if you poll people on the street in Ithaca and ask them to name the most pressing problem in the City, the prevailing answer would be the lack of affordable housing. Over the years, we’ve managed to run up a housing market demand that overruns housing supply.

The Breckenridge Place ribbon-cutting ceremony last May 26th presented a startling reminder of how the lack of affordable housing threatens vulnerable populations, and why it’s so difficult to accomplish.

Among the speakers was Ithaca Mayor Svante Myrick, whom spoke of his own experiences growing up with housing uncertainty, and at times, literally homeless. It’s important for us to define housing as a basic need in society, but also housing that is located near downtowns, civic institutions, and economic centers, so that residents are able to take full advantage of social and economic opportunities. Svante made the same point by recalling that his family had lived in a nicely-furnished affordable housing complex for two years, but it had been very far from a town center, which severely reduced the benefits of the housing due to the lack of reasonable mobility to places of work, to basic needs like groceries, and to local resources.

Downtown affordable housing developments are tremendously difficult projects to accomplish, primarily due to the cost of building and financing projects under current building codes, costs, and site availability. Not to say building codes, costs, or site availability are to blame: codes keep people safe, costs are largely predetermined due to wages, materials, and technology, and site availability due to existing productive structures and planning considerations.

At the ceremony, Paul Mazzarella, director of Ithaca Neighborhood Housing Services, introduced Stuart J. Mitchell, CEO of Pathstone Development Corp. (project partner-developer), whom emphasized the complexity of the financing and planning involved in Breckenridge. Generally nowadays, affordable housing projects are complicated public/private/not-for-profit deals that leverage a slew of public and grant funding sources with private equity to finance the construction. The legal and tax benefits of each corporate structure are utilized to take full advantage of each of the funding nuances in order to make the project happen, a bit like putting together a financial puzzle set.

Programs like the Federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC), NYS Homes & Community Renewal programs (NYSDHCR), and federal neighborhood revitalization grants are typically oversubscribed, especially programs for urban multifamily housing development. LIHTC is said to be oversubscribed 3 to 1 with project applications each funding cycle. Organizations like Smart Growth America’s LOCUS are actively pushing federal and state governments to gear their programs towards smarter (denser, downtown) developments in order to re-align incentives with the existing and future sustainable American market for housing.

I wanted to present the current picture in Ithaca, and coincidentally, Paul gave a great presentation on housing trends in Ithaca and Tompkins County to the City Planning Committee last February 12th, and has agreed to share the slides here on the blog. Here’s a selection of slides from the presentation with brief explanations:

Slide04

Housing sales cost trends show that from 2000 to 2013, prices have increased about twice as fast as income growth, and the fastest in urban areas of Tompkins County, especially in the City of Ithaca. The largest percentage of price gains have been in the lowest quartile of the housing market, essentially pricing-out many buyers from the lower end of the market.

Slide06

Regionally, we have the greatest gap between median purchase price and median family income:

Slide08

Affordable (defined by a multiplier of median income) home sales volumes have slipped:

Slide09

Fair Market Rents (FMRs, defined by the federal government at the 40th percentile of median family income) have increased dramatically from 2000 to 2014:

Slide10

Tompkins County’s FMRs are almost twice as expensive as some nearby counties:

Slide11

Rental housing in Ithaca is clearly dominated by student housing, which has been the intended consumer for most new multifamily rental development since 1980, however, rental housing development has not kept pace with demand for new units.

rental-housing-production-ithaca

The vacancy rate for apartments in the Ithaca urban area is 0.5%, which is far below the 5% rate considered to be a good rule of thumb for a desirable and competitive market. If not enough units are left vacant, the market is incentivized towards supplying sub-standard housing for the revenues the units command. In addition, the burden of finding housing imposes a cost to consumers. There are demographic changes that drive this housing demand: the City of Ithaca has seen minimal population growth (just less than 1%) from 1990 to 2010, while the County has seen growth around 8%. Part of the discrepancy can be traced to the lack of affordable and new housing created in the City.

Employment is arguably the major driver, since living closer to work is desirable; from 2000 to 2013, the change in private employment looks like this:

change-in-employment
(MSA= Metropolitan Statistical Area)

The New York State Comptroller’s Office recently published a report (March 2014) on housing affordability in New York State, and the figures statewide are quite grim. According to the State, housing affordability is defined by housing costs being a portion of 30% or less of household income. Housing costs are defined not only by rent or mortgage payments, but also utilities, insurance, and real estate taxes. Severe housing burden is a 50% cost-share of household income.

nysc-homes

nysc-rents

Tompkins County’s numbers may be skewed due to the fact that student households with ACS-sampled low incomes but high rents are included in the Census Bureau statistics, and thus, the reported percentage (47.8%) of rental households above affordability thresholds may not be accurate. The percentage of owner households above the affordability threshold is likely to be much more accurate, at 21.8%, since students generally do not own the property they live in.

Regardless, the reality in Ithaca is that many people are priced out of the market for housing, and the solutions are not easy. Breckenridge was the first affordable housing development in the downtown area in 30 years.

nysc-rents-map

The Second Part in this series will put on “Developer Goggles”: I’ll present and explain a traditionally-financed development pro forma (cost, financing, and cash flow analysis) with up-to-date construction cost information, financing terms, and typical operating revenue and expenses to show a developer’s financial view of building and operating a sample project in Ithaca.

My thanks to Paul for sharing the presentation on housing trends. You can find out more about the mission and history of INHS at their website: Ithaca Neighborhood Housing Services

Breckenridge Place Finished Exterior Photos

February 13, 2014 // by Jason Henderson

Well, it’s been a real treat watching this 50-unit, 60,000 square foot project go up a stones throw from where I live, and I think it’s a great addition to downtown. Ithaca Neighborhood Housing Services has pulled off a large, mixed-income affordable housing project in the middle of downtown, desperately needed to fulfill housing demands that go well beyond the existing stock and availability of housing units in Ithaca, so hats off to them for making this a reality. Affordable housing developments in close proximity to downtowns and civic institutions offer residents easier access to local resources, and mixed-income developments have been associated with tangible benefits for residents beyond providing affordable housing. [The Director of INHS, Paul Mazzarella, gave a nice short presentation to the City Planning Committee last night on housing trends and needs in the area, so I’ll post the link and content once it’s available]

I have yet to peek inside, but INHS has some interior shots on their website, and the video on YouTube offers nice explanations of the finishes and amenities. The project was designed by HOLT Architects, and completed by Christa Construction.
 

 

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Breckenridge Sidewalks Nearly Complete

October 22, 2013 // by James Douglas

Downtown pedestrians will have noticed that sidewalk work at Breckenridge has essentially been completed over the past several weeks. I’ve gotta say, it’s really nice to start imagining this location being a functional intersection again, after months of construction activity and disruption.

 

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Breckenridge Place New Curbs & Updated Photos

October 3, 2013 // by Jason Henderson

New granite curbs were installed at Breckenridge, and the street-side has been re-filled with rock and asphalt. Besides that, the window frames missing glass panels have been covered with plywood to keep out the drafts, and the glass pop-out on the south is covered with wrap. The start of metal roof fascia can be seen along the north side of the roof line, which will wrap all the way around the roof, and cover over the EPDM (roof membrane).

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Tompkins County Biggs Property Will be Sold to NRP Group

October 1, 2013 // by Jason Henderson

The resolutions regarding the sale of the Tompkins County Biggs Property to NRP Properties, LLC have passed, so the project will go before Town of Ithaca Planning Board meetings next. The final resolution to approve the sale passed 11-4.

The project’s working titles are “Cayuga Ridge Village” and “Cayuga Village Townhomes”.

There would be a Homeowner’s Association managed by Better Housing for Tompkins County.

The units would have an option to purchase after a 15-year period due to the requirements of the tax credits that would be sold to investors in order to finance the project.

60-Unit Townhomes, one to four bedrooms; from the renderings and floor plans, they look as if they would be modular.

Total development cost: $13,500,000 +/- ($225k build-out cost per unit)

Developer: the NRP group LLC, Cleveland, Ohio

Architects: RDL Architects – Shaker Heights (Cleveland), Ohio

A gentleman from the NRP group gave a short presentation and answered questions from the legislators, as well as Ed Marx, the planning commissioner. Ed summarized the history of the project, and the results of the meetings with residents on West Hill.

The legislators spent a lot of time going over the structuring of the tax credits (the fact that the units can’t be sold until 15 years in), and how the project is ultimately financed, as well as some site plan questioning. There’s a lot that has yet to be determined at this point, and there was a considerable amount of dialogue on the future property taxes, the current assessment, the affordability criteria, and the ultimate sale pricing.

The main discussion just before the resolution passed went over the opposition points: the site placement relative to the City, traffic congestion and pursuant costs, violence since the beginning of housing expansion on West Hill, and the inequity of City taxpayers subsidizing the housing and transit implications of the Town’s development decisions.

There’s a petition from Ithaca West and a large number of individuals that have opposed the sale for the use of this project. The pages with the objection letters and a letter of support are particularly good.

Here’s the Community That Works site, setup to communicate about the project. Much of the project’s impetus comes from a US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grant for Climate Showcase Communities, and the program is modelled on EcoVillage-style development.

 

Here’s the Project Description:

 

 

Here’s a memorandum on affordable housing from Ed Marx, the Commissioner of Planning:

 

Magnolia House Project Idle

September 7, 2013 // by Jason Henderson

Tompkins Community Action‘s Magnolia House on Meadow St just past Joe’s Restaurant seems to be an idle project, at least for the last few months. I haven’t heard what’s going on, only some informal comments that a NYSEG utility pole had to be moved because the lines were too close to the building and it took some time to get it relocated. The exterior has looked rather complete since June, when the copper-cladding was undergoing its change into a patina.
Found a brief project description and funding breakdown online, which is embedded at the end of the photos here.

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