© Ithaca Builds, 2024
November 12, 2013 // by Jason Henderson
INHS’s Breckenridge Place site has new paving, striping, landscaping, pillars at the entry, and the windows for the central popped-out bay along Seneca Street are going in. The two locust trees between Breckenridge and the property next door have been removed, giving a better view of the eastern facade. The 50 new units are still slated to open-up for early 2014.
November 10, 2013 // by Jason Henderson
The Newman Development/ Warren Real Estate project at 140 Seneca Way is set to open less than two months from now. There’s been considerable landscaping progress since I last swung around- new concrete poured for the western lot and ground-level parking beneath the building, as well as soil and plantings. Besides the fill-in of the missing section of facade, I doubt we’ll see much more change on the outside beyond this point. It’s been nice watching this one go up- definitely a swift pace. Browse the first project page here for photos going all the way back to the demolition of the former Challenge Industries building.
Not long from now, Ithaca will be welcoming 32 new one-bedroom apartments, six two-bedroom apartments, and 8,600 square feet of office space for Warren Real Estate and the Park Foundation.
November 6, 2013 // by Jason Henderson
Here are some photos taken today of the Press Bay Alley site. The steel-framed glass panels have been installed along each of the bay headers, and within the past couple weeks, stud walls have been framed onto the cinder block walls. Next up, I imagine electrical runs will be made, then insulation batts will be stuffed into the stud cavities, and sheetrock to finish.
October 28, 2013 // by Jason Henderson
Here are some updated photos of the Commons Rebuild project from today and late last week. The excavation outside the Maté Factor is for a new sanitary service, and the main Tompkins Trust building on Bank Alley is being connected to the new water main along Bank Alley. According to the project site, four more buildings on State Street remain to be connected to the new water main, along with two on Bank Alley (including Tompkins Trust).
October 28, 2013 // by Jason Henderson
Overhead Door was on site last week to install the upper sections of each bay opening. The roof now has a membrane layer, which will be covered-over with fascia trim along the edges. It will be interesting to see how the individual spaces are built out, mostly dependent on the tenants that rent them out. The immediate area gets plenty of foot traffic, and there have been regular pop-up gallery events (Art in the Alley), along with activities hosted by Ithaca Generator, located down the stairs past Life’s So Sweet, the chocolatier next door.
October 27, 2013 // by Jason Henderson
Here are some updated photos of the Seneca Way project from last week. The render below doesn’t show the window shades, and they haven’t been installed yet, so I imagine that they’ve been dropped. The steel support columns on the exterior will be wrapped to form a cylindrical shape, and the western lot will be due for walls shortly.
The website contains some nice interior renderings of what the apartments will look like (one shot attached below). The sidewalks have been in place for a while now, so they may open-up once all the work along the exterior has been completed.
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.
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.
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.
October 14, 2013 // by Jason Henderson
Accufab started off by securing the steel plate columns to each bay divider, then columns centered on each bay, which will form the new entry doors to each micro-retail unit space. The latest photo is from last week- more to come.
