Ithaca Builds

Mapping, photos and information for Ithaca construction and development projects

Tag Archives: housing

Belle Sherman Cottages Modular Build Photos

June 20, 2013 // by Jason Henderson

I was kindly invited to visit the morning of a modular assembly, so here are photos of the crane hoist, modular section, and the modular seam (once inside). The art of this sort of construction assembly is fitting the pieces together perfectly so that all your seams line up. These sections are about 10′ x 30′ give or take a few feet. Some shifting and settling occurs when the units are being trucked from Pennsylvania, but everything must come together just right once it’s on site. After leveling a few floor assemblies, it’s easy to see how this can get complicated because there are many more considerations when fitting these in, primarily that the distance is so much greater than a typical floor joist, so your multiplication factor for being off by just a bit turns into a lot more than that. All in all, they appeared very well constructed, and once inside, it didn’t seem like I was walking into something that was once four separate pieces.

The modular seam

New Earth Living on Five Mile Drive

June 17, 2013 // by Jason Henderson

The New Earth Living website has posted information on their upcoming project on 619 Five Mile Drive called “Amabel,” a proposed new series of pocket neighborhoods that would be much larger than the recently completed Aurora Pocket Neighborhood. In this preliminary design, five neighborhoods consisting of six or seven households share a common house, gardens, and shed/garage space. Planned technologies include strong insulation, solar power, and rainwater harvesting, much like the Aurora Pocket Neighborhood employs. Ithacating’s Article observantly notes that although this area has seen many single-family homes built recently, there’s nothing quite like this proposal.

The site is about a mile from downtown Ithaca (as the crow flies), so residents could travel down Floral Ave (13A), cross the bridge, and they’d be on the West side. The walking route down Floral Ave then to the Commons is about two miles. The surroundings are suburban; Calvary Cemetery is across the street, and just down the road is the bottom of Bostwick Rd, which has the Ithaca City School District Bus Garage and the Tompkins County Highway Department & Facilities Division.

amabel_prelim

Purity Apartments Parking, Transit & Planning

June 16, 2013 // by Jason Henderson

If you’ve got some time to kill, these are all good reads on the Purity project. Bruce Lane’s memorandum spells out the intentions and major challenges in this project, and the applicant memorandum by John Snyder delves into the design and planning board issues that have been brought forward throughout the site plan review process. There’s no doubt about the risk in doing a project like this on the West End, but the development team has some great answers to the questions brought forward by the planning board. Let’s hope they can work it out- this looks to be a high quality building.

 

Bruce Lane’s (Owner) Memorandum on the project:
 

 

Applicant Memorandum by John Snyder (architect) & Lisa Nicholas (Senior Planner, City of Ithaca), JoAnn Cornish (Director of Planning & Economic Development, City of Ithaca):
 

 

SRF Associates Parking Evaluation:
 

 

TCAT Map and Email correspondence with Doug Swarts about the bus stop:
 

Purity Apartments Renders

June 16, 2013 // by Jason Henderson

Here are some new exterior and interior renders from John Snyder Architects, including a view looking south showing the building’s profile:

 

Here’s a previous render looking north:

Collegetown Terrace Site Photos

June 13, 2013 // by Jason Henderson

The glass box now has glass, and the colorful State Street facades have just about been completed. There’s not much change on building 3.4, but I bet finishing that facade comes next. It’s hard to get a good glimpse of it, but the large drilling rig must mean that excavation work for building 5 and/or 6 is moving ahead. I tried to get a shot of the whole project from the opposite hill, but now that summer is in full swing, the leaves hide everything. I’ll take one in the Fall. There’s also a shot of the relatively new Giles St foot bridge. It’s nice.

Hawk’s Nest Preliminary Site Plan

June 9, 2013 // by Jason Henderson

Dug this up in the Town of Ithaca Planning Board documents: proposed 50-unit senior living rental apartment complex, right next door to Springwood Townhomes (Ithaca Estates Realty, the same group doing College Crossing). I’m not sure what the previous 1973 site plan contained, but the tax assessment information on this 15 acre parcel shows that most of the Springwood Townhomes were built in 1980, and the parcel carries a total assessment just shy of $2 million. Longview is just down the road towards Ithaca, which is assisted-care, but this project proposes to market towards “active adults” 55 and older that no longer wish to maintain a home. This site plan only shows the basic outline for now, but I’ll look around for more.

Project Narrative:

Preliminary Site Plans:

130 E Clinton St Revised Site Plans

June 8, 2013 // by Jason Henderson

The design on this project looks like it has changed a bit, and the render from the Six Mile Creek side offers a better idea of where on the hill this project would sit as viewed from the Creek Walk. It’s still slated for 36 units with a combination of studios, one and two bedrooms. The project narrative from the architect is below, along with the revised materials, which show the current grade and the proposed site grading.

Project Narrative:

Render:

Elevations:

Floor Plans:

Iacovelli Apartments Site Photos

June 6, 2013 // by Jason Henderson

This one is looking closer to done than before- no more faux brick panels laying around, and there’s a new sign on the Route 13 corner displaying the temperature outside and the address of the building.

Collegetown Crossing Project Description

May 27, 2013 // by Jason Henderson

Collegetown_Crossing_Render

307 College Ave is currently a two-story building in Collegetown with commercial space on the ground floor and apartments above. Denied a parking variance after a zoning board appeal last November, this project will be due to come back to life once parking minimums are revised, or possibly done away with entirely (under current codes, putting the planned 50-units for 103 beds on this parcel would have required the creation of 57 parking spaces). Greenstar Cooperative has already pledged support by planning to put in a retail grocery operation, which, as it stands now, would probably be a great benefit to nearby residents since there is hardly a place within walking distance to buy fresh produce. The developer, Josh Lower, and his father William Lower run C Town Rentals, which operates over 80 apartments in the Collegetown area.