Ithaca Builds

Mapping, photos and information for Ithaca construction and development projects

Thurston Avenue Apartments July Photo Update

July 24, 2014 // by Jason Henderson

Thurston Ave Apartments Inventory

RABCO‘s 18-unit, 57-bedroom Thurston Avenue Apartments project is showing completed brick facade work, sitework to prep for a new parking lot and driveway, some landscaping stonework, and the HardieTrim panels and synthetic stucco is coming along on Buildings C & D. The Marvin Integrity windows were installed back in June, and the buildings were fully-framed, wrapped, and roofed throughout the month of May.

The project is being built by G.M. Crisalli & Associates, with design by HOLT Architects, and landscape by TWLA.  Occupancy is expected in August, for students moving-in to begin the Fall semester.

 

July 24th:
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Building C:
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Building D:
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Site Plan below (Building A, the small one in the corner will be a later phase):

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July 2nd:

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Thurston Ave Apartments May Photo Update

May 20, 2014 // by Jason Henderson

With a target opening date of August, progress on RABCO Highland House‘s Thurston Avenue Apartments project has advanced along, with envelope framing completion on Buildings C & D and only a small section of tar paper and roofing tiles needed to complete the roof installation on Building D, as the other two buildings have been finished.

The base sections of brick facade were laid last month, and the rest of the facade will consist of a combination of Hardie trim boards, textured synthetic stucco (EIFS) finished in several different colors, and Hardie soffit panels. The windows and doors were reviewed by the Ithaca Landmarks Preservation Commission late last year due to Cornell Heights Historic District considerations, and will include Integrity fiberglass grilled double hung windows, and Marvin commercial doors finished to match the facade colors.

 
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Thurston Avenue Apartments Framing Blitz

April 6, 2014 // by Jason Henderson

The RABCO Highland House Thurston Avenue Apartments project being constructed by G.M. Crisalli has made some impressive framing progress, as Buildings C & D have topped their final storeys since late March, and Building B has gone up another storey, and is almost ready for its third and final. I’ve learned that Building A, the smaller building that had been planned for the right-side entry on this site has been postponed. Building A would have contained 2 one-bedroom units, so the pending unit count on this current project is now 15 three-bedrooms and 3 four-bedrooms:

Thurston Ave Apartments Inventory

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Photos from April 6th:

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Photos from March 29th:

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Thurston Avenue Apartments Framing Progress & One Ridgewood Road Photos

March 24, 2014 // by Jason Henderson

There’s been some framing progress on Building D of RABCO‘s Thurston Avenue Apartments project since early March. The structures are being framed on top of the Insulated Concrete Forms with wood studs and joists, and faced with plywood, then Tyvek wrap on the exterior- the buildings will be fully sprinklered once completed. G.M. Crisalli Construction has been contracted for this project, and Compass Builders has been completing the framing work. Building D will top-out at one more storey plus attic, along with the other three structures.

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Photos from March 24th:

Photos from March 14th:

The proposed One Ridgewood Road project site is just across the street from here, so I took a few photos of each side.

Ithacating has great information on the project, and a nice explanation of the petition developments here.

Highland Avenue side:

Ridgewood Road side:

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Thurston Avenue Apartments Photo Update

March 2, 2014 // by Jason Henderson

The RABCO Thurston Avenue Apartments project has shown some progress since mid-February. The ground level Fox Block walls have been filled with concrete, western foundation walls have been assembled, some additional grading work has been completed, and stud walls are beginning to take shape on the northern-most structure (Building C).

As shown on the construction fence sign, G.M. Crisalli Construction out of Syracuse is the general contractor on this project. They’ve managed and constructed a lot of projects, most notably within Ithaca: the Taughannock Boulevard Island Health and Fitness Center. The project is designed by all-local firms: architecture by HOLT Architects, whose recently completed projects include Seneca Way and Breckenridge Place Apartments, landscape plan by Trowbidge Wolf Michaels, and survey work by TG Miller.

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Thurston Ave Apartments Block Work

February 18, 2014 // by Jason Henderson

The RABCO Thurston Ave Apartments project has begun wall assembly work for the ground stories of Buildings 1, 2 and 3, as the foundations were dug, formed, and poured over the course of late November to early February. As corrected in the previous post, this project is obviously going to be framed on-site, rather than modular, which comes as a surprise to me, since the floor layouts have the dimensions for truck transport, and would lend themselves quite well to that form of assembly. Also, given the timeline (leased for August occupancy), this may be cutting it close, but I imagine with a big enough crew, this can get done.

The walls are being constructed with Fox Blocks, which are an insulated concrete form (ICF) product made of recycled plastic. The walls are assembled block-by-block on top of the foundation walls, then concrete is poured on the inside gap. The tarps on top are covering the gaps so that snow doesn’t make its way in there.

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Thurston Ave Apartments Foundation Work

January 30, 2014 // by Jason Henderson

Rabco’s Thurston Avenue Apartments project is showing more foundation work since last time I swung around in late December. Concrete has been poured and covered for the foundation footers, and vertical rebar is in place for concrete block reinforcement. There are pallets of foam board insulation around the site to be used for foundation wall insulation once the block walls are assembled. The trenches for the foundation usually aren’t backfilled with soil until the modular pieces are secured on top of the foundations.
I’ve just learned that in fact, this project is not going to be modular, much to my amazement. An August deadline is going to be quite a difficult task for stick-built, but I suppose where there’s a will, there’s a way.

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Here’s a double three bedroom unit floor plate from the site plan review documents:

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Thurston Avenue Apartments Movin’ Dirt

December 26, 2013 // by Jason Henderson

The Thurston Avenue Apartments project’s excavation has been well underway, with earth-movers still on site for more. There are several wooden forms for concrete footers down in the pits, and if I’m reading the plans correctly, these are situated for the two future apartment buildings closest to the intersection of Highland and Thurston Ave, or to the left of the future drive entry. The site had quite a steep grade to start, and lots of trees, which have been cleared since late Fall.

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Thurston Ave Apartments Begins

November 25, 2013 // by Jason Henderson

The Thurston Avenue Apartments project has a construction fence up, and has cleared all the site trees and brush in prep for site excavation.

The plan is to build four 3-story multi-unit buildings for a total of 2 one bedrooms, 15 three bedrooms, and 3 four bedrooms (44 beds total). Here’s a link to the previous post containing the full site plan review materials, and the project itself was given final City of Ithaca site plan approval back in June. The buildings have been designed to match the character of their surroundings, and I think HOLT Architects did quite a nice job on this one.

I’m not entirely sure, but since there’s a crane on site already and the floor plan layouts have some uniformly-spaced wall breaks, there may be some modular components to this project. Should be nice to watch either way- if it is modular, then once the foundations are in, we should expect to see these go up quite rapidly, much like houses at Belle Sherman Cottages.

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