Ithaca Builds

Mapping, photos and information for Ithaca construction and development projects

Collegetown Dryden Project Site Plan & Renders

August 26, 2014 // by Jason Henderson

Novarr-Mackesey submitted plans for a three-building series of six-story structures along Dryden Road from College Avenue to Linden Avenue last month: renders and site plan images are below. The sites were assembled over the course of several years as outlined by Ithacating’s Post here, under the name Dry-Lin, LLC. The designs are done by ikon.5 architects, the same as for the Collegetown Terrace Project.

The total project would create 141 studio units, 11 parking spaces, 10,510 square feet of retail, and 9,000 square feet of cellar space for a grand total of 107,302 square feet for all three buildings (breakdown below).

Collegetown Dryden Project - Sketch Plan Presentation - 07-22-14_Page_1

Collegetown Dryden project

Novarr-Dryden-College-Ave-Ithaca-062414-21

Novarr-Dryden-College-Ave-Ithaca-0624142

Collegetown Dryden Project - Sketch Plan Presentation - 07-22-14_Page_3

Collegetown Dryden Project - Sketch Plan Presentation - 07-22-14_Page_4

Collegetown Dryden Project - Sketch Plan Presentation - 07-22-14_Page_5

Collegetown Dryden Project - Sketch Plan Presentation - 07-22-14_Page_6

Collegetown Crossing Sketch Plan

May 28, 2014 // by Jason Henderson

Since Common Council passed the new Collegetown Area Form Districts back in March, most of Collegetown falls under a re-written form-based zoning ordinance, in which districts determine the massing, accepted uses, setbacks, parking requirements, and various other aspects of what can be built or modified. Form-based zoning seeks to establish allowable building massing as a priority over accepted uses, and emphasizes a logical transition from rural areas to urban centers, mimicking the transitions found in natural geography. More information available here (was once called the Center for Transect Studies, but the concept itself emerged in the 1970s from various individuals, with the first code written for the Florida town of Seaside by Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk).

307 College Avenue was re-zoned to MU-1, which has no minimum parking requirements (satisfying thing to read on a zoning ordinance), much like the CBD-zones downtown, therefore the project may continue without a zoning variance, which was attempted previously. The proposal is showing demolition of the existing two-story College Ave-fronting structure, and a six-story project with five first floor commercial spaces (one of which may be a Greenstar location), and 43 apartments: 13 studios, 15 two-bedrooms, 5 three-bedrooms, and 10 four-bedrooms.

The Owner/Developer is Josh Lower of Urban Ithaca, and the plans are being designed by Architect Jagat P. Sharma.

Here’s a map and shots of the sketch plan submission:

307-College-Ave

Photos of 307 College Avenue:
307-College-Avenue---Sketch-Plan-Presentation---05-27-14-2

Site Plan:
307-College-Avenue---Sketch-Plan-Presentation---05-27-14-3

First and Second Floor Plans:
307-College-Avenue---Sketch-Plan-Presentation---05-27-14-4

Third & Fourth, and Fifth & Sixth Floor Plans:
307-College-Avenue---Sketch-Plan-Presentation---05-27-14-5

Rendered Elevations:
307-College-Avenue---Sketch-Plan-Presentation---05-27-14-6

Holiday Inn Express & Another Hotel in the Pipeline

February 27, 2014 // by Jason Henderson

The proposed 4-story, 11,769 square foot, 76 room and 76 parking space Holiday Inn Express at 371 Elmira Road had its site plan review postponed for next meeting so that the developer Jay Patel could present and answer questions in-person. In addition to this site, Mr. Patel is also planning another hotel development down the road at 339 Elmira, which was sold at auction this past June, 2013. The same team out of Buffalo, NY, Silvestri Architects and Optima Design & Engineering are working on the proposal. The site previously contained the Salvation Army Store, which moved to its new building down the road in 2009.

Demolition Plan (the Elmira Road commercial frontage has sat mostly vacant for some years, and the building on Spencer Road houses Pete’s small engine repair):
Elmira-Road-371---4-Story-Hotel---Revised-Drawings---02-21-14-Demo

 

 

Site Layout Plan:
Elmira-Road-371---4-Story-Hotel---Revised-Drawings---02-21-14

Rendered Elevations:
Elmira-Road-371---4-Story-Hotel---A-201---Revised-Rendering---02-21-14

Cover Letter

Revised Drawings

Materials Board

Alternate Site Plan

Revised Rendering

Elevations

The Carey Building II

January 27, 2014 // by Jason Henderson

For the purposes of this site, I’d rather not focus on the end-use of the project (rather, the physical details of the project), but coincidentally, The Economist ran a nice, in-depth Special Report on Tech Startups this past January 18th edition, which provides some thorough information on business incubators, accelerators, corporate venturing, and their differences. The planned incubator for this space will be a coordination between Cornell, IC, and TC3. Cornell is betting heavily on the academic-private model for the development of its Cornell NYC Tech Campus, which will be leveraging NYC’s large, and growing tech business community.

The structural members are all steel-reinforced concrete columns and beams, with a brick facade, in some parts backed-up by terra cotta. Many of the original interior walls are cellular gypsum block, covered in plaster. One of the challenges with older brick buildings is the northern walls- brick is very porous, so buildings in the north with brick north faces get exposed to lots of precipitation, but little sunlight. The resulting moisture makes its way through and erodes the plaster in older structures that don’t have a moisture membrane. One of the options is to build the wall inward, or simply clean up and re-plaster with more moisture resistant cover.

Column cut showing steel bar and spiral steel reinforcement:
Carey-Column1

Gypsum Block:
Carey-Building-01171454

Roof ceiling at filled-in section, with beam-to-column connection. The beam depth and column masses are quite large, typical of buildings built in the early days of reinforced concrete:
Carey-Column-Beam1

Here are some existing conditions photos:
Carey-Building-01171441

Carey-Building-01171440

Carey-Building-01171439

There’s a lot of demolition work to be done before any construction begins. The ceiling grid, almost all existing interior walls, former plaster drop ceiling, HVAC, electric, etc., all get removed. The incubator space is going for a much more open floor plan, so the best option is to basically clear everything out and start new. There’s some remediation work to be done as well, typical of projects with older building materials. The floor to roof deck height is quite generous, so the final space will have a much taller ceiling height than it does now. The windows provide a lot of natural light as well, since they’re located all along the northern, eastern and southern faces, which have generous setbacks before any adjacent structures. Once the office enclosures are removed, the space will probably be relatively well-lit during the day from sunlight.

The New Google Maps

December 17, 2013 // by Jason Henderson

If you haven’t had a chance to check it out, I’d highly recommend doing so- as has been expected for a while now, Google Maps is now in 3D: terrain, buildings, everything. Here’s a screenshot of a view over Ithaca, but you can see the new map engine by going to Google Maps, then hit the lower left for “Earth view”, then bottom right for “Tilt” to see varying degrees of view. Just make sure you’re free for several hours before doing so.

Google-Maps

Some screenshots here, updated January 22nd, 2014:

Core Downtown
Core-Downtown

Cornell North Campus:
Cornell_North_Campus

Cornell Main Campus:
Cornell-Campus

East Hill Plaza:
East-Hill-Plaza

Ithaca College:
Ithaca-College-South-Hill

The Route 13 Strip:
Ithaca-The-Strip

Lakefront:
The-Lakefront-Mouth

Cornell’s Statler Hall Renovation

December 10, 2013 // by Jason Henderson

Cornell University’s Statler Hall (School of Hotel Administration) will be undergoing a fitting $2.4 million modification project on the western-side of the building along East Avenue, where the current entrance vestibule will be replaced with a more modern-style entrance, which will match the recent renovations that have been completed on the eastern and southern sides: the Beck Center along the eastern side (Phase One Expansion), and the renovated auditorium tower on the southern side (Phase Two expansion). KSS Architects, the designers on this vestibule project completed both the Beck Center and the Tower Renovation, (the links go to some great pages on their site showcasing both projects). In addition to the vestibule, there will be some new additional floor space created on the second floor. The original Statler Hall was completed in 1949, and has been renovated several times before. There will also be some new landscaping (see north and south plazas in the presentation below) with benches, new pavers, and bike racks.

Statler-Hall-Entry-Renovation-Render

Statler-Entry-Landscaping

 


 

Presentation:

Landscaping Plan:

Statler-Site-Plan

Demolition Elevations:

Statler-Demolitions

Planned Elevations:

Statler-New-Elevations

Full plan docs can be found here.

Cayuga Place Two Renders & Elevations

June 27, 2013 // by Jason Henderson

These elevations and rendering were released last year by Bloomfield/Schon + Partners, the developers. Not sure what the status is currently, but there’s been some minor site prep (see photos).