Ithaca Builds

Mapping, photos and information for Ithaca construction and development projects

Purity Ice Cream Project Scales Down- No Apartment Tower

October 14, 2013 // by Jason Henderson

Bummer news here, but I imagine there are some strong reasons: The Purity Project has scaled down, and will no longer be seeking to build an apartment tower on the site. The revised project narrative (page 2 below) cites market conditions as the cause. The new plan is for an expansion of Purity Ice Cream’s store operations, and a buildout of the second story and roof level above to include 2,640 square feet of office space and a terrace area. The project is looking to start January 2014 with a construction schedule of 10-12 months. Here’s the first paragraph of the architectural narrative, providing a good summary of the revised project:

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New Site Plans and Parking Evaluation embedded below:

 

 

Planned Parenthood Major Structural Work Complete

October 11, 2013 // by Jason Henderson

The Planned Parenthood site looks about the same as last week, with nearly all of the major structural work complete. The steel post columns on the exterior edges are all in place, so we should probably see a big delivery of metal studded wall panels to form the exterior walls, but the floor decks would be poured with concrete first (although it’s hard to get a good view of anything above the ground level).

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Hobby Lobby’s Big Entrance Bay

October 7, 2013 // by Jason Henderson

As the work goes on inside the old Kmart to outfit the upcoming 56,444 square foot Hobby Lobby store for a November 11th opening, the large entrance bay is being constructed to prop-up the sign for drivers to see from Route 13. I had wondered last time around what the steel beams were for, and I suppose this is it.

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Planned Parenthood, Definitely Not Slowing Down

October 2, 2013 // by Jason Henderson

Planned Parenthood of the Southern Finger Lakes’ project has way more structural steel up (basically the whole building envelope), as well as corrugated steel decking for floors and roof sheathing. The north-west steel stair ramp is making its way around the concrete elevator tower that was poured just a few weeks ago. I haven’t been able to swing by during the day to see what kind of crew they’ve got, but the gross majority of this steel framing work has been completed in about two weeks flat. Pretty impressive stuff.

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Planned Parenthood Steel Structure Assembly

September 25, 2013 // by Jason Henderson

The Planned Parenthood site is showing great progress: the concrete forms have been removed on both the stair and elevator towers, and we’ve got two stories of structural steel beam assemblies, anchored on the concrete foundation sections and footer blocks. As you can see from the rendered plans below, the stair tower will be going up another story for roof access, and the steel beam section with the angled tops will be supporting the hipped-roof western portion of the building. The structure will be extending further north from what we see now to fill-out the rest of the hipped roof section and flat roof section, which will be developed just past the stair tower.

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Planned Parenthood Two Towers and Foundation Walls

September 16, 2013 // by Jason Henderson

The elevator tower and stair tower have been formed (and possibly poured.. hard to tell) another level up, and the foundation walls have been wrapped in rigid insulation foam almost all the way around and covered back up with soil. There’s probably also some gravel fill and a footer drain pipe running around the base of the foundation walls as well. The concrete pads look like they’re intended to provide for structural support, and the rest of the interior space will likely be covered in rigid insulation, then poured as a slab.

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Hobby Lobby Work Continues, Entryway Demolition

September 5, 2013 // by Jason Henderson

The wall section has been demoed for the new entryway, along with the paving and a significant amount of soil out front. There’s a series of beams sitting on the parking lot outside the gates; I’d imagine the smaller ones may be for supporting the new entryway, but I’m not sure about the others.

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Planned Parenthood Pouring Foundation Walls

August 26, 2013 // by Jason Henderson

The Planned Parenthood site has begun pouring the foundation walls that began formation late last month, and if the rain holds for a while, will probably finish this out soon. The neighboring site, Iacovelli Apartments indicated that poor soil quality contributed to their decision to pour a foundation that finishes above grade, but it doesn’t look like this site will go that route. Here’s the final design by Chiang O’Brien Architects, posted back in May: Planned Parenthood Site Plans

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Benderson Development Seeking a Retail Expansion

August 20, 2013 // by Jason Henderson

Benderson Development is proposing a 14,744 SF retail expansion next door to where Hobby Lobby is going in (adjacent to Staples). The existing parking lot would stay just about the same, albeit some curb refitting, and there has been no disclosure of a prospective tenant. The previous semi-structure there before was the garden center for K-Mart, which closed back in 2011.

Iacovelli Apartments Complete/Resolution of Outstanding Site Issues

August 16, 2013 // by Jason Henderson

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The 602 West Seneca Street Indian Chief logo has been covered-up on the sign out front, there’s a proposed Meadow Street-side entry sign for “Seneca Apartments,” and a new entry gate as well as new trees. The corner office area contains plans for new planters and hardie board boxes are proposed for the office entry and residential entryways along Seneca Street. Besides new plantings, the attached resolution of outstanding site issues points out that the foundation’s floating slab was constructed and poured so that it props-up above grade due to poor soil quality, and has been covered with gravel to mask its appearance.

Here are the proposed plans:

And the resolution narrative: