Ithaca Builds

Mapping, photos and information for Ithaca construction and development projects

Collegetown Terrace February Photo Update

February 26, 2014 // by Jason Henderson

The gates were closed, so I didn’t manage any good north-facing shots of Building 6, but here’s a quick photo update for the Collegetown Terrace project. As Ithacating’s Article noted, Building 7 (Phase 3) will be starting shortly (the whopper $70 million bridge loan was approved last August), and Novar-Mackesey has put forward a proposal to the Board of Zoning Appeals to swap-out a parking floor on Building 7 for more apartments, due to the under-utilization of current parking spaces. I’ll admit from visiting the site quite often, there are many spaces always open, and I can’t call myself a fan of zoning regulations requiring minimum parking amounts per housing units built, since it’s generally not an optimal or equitable policy. Since the project already has so many spaces, it would make sense to tailor the remainder of the project to fit the proven absorption, and good news for those walking: the State & Mitchell Intersection was completed back in mid-January, so crossing the street is now much easier.

Goldwin Smith / Future Klarman Hall February Site Photos

February 24, 2014 // by Jason Henderson

A few more windows on the east side of Goldwin Smith Hall have been boarded-up, and roofing work as part of the enabling work scope for the Klarman Hall project has been proceeding (LeChase Construction), as the entire existing slate and metal roofing materials are replaced with new metal, flashing, and slate pieces. If I’m not mistaken, I believe by this point, the entire north wing, the northern-central section, and the southern and northern slopes of the south wing have new slate installed. The Cornell Chronicle posted an article about how the temperatures have been affecting the project.

The target completion for Klarman Hall is late 2015, with 33,250 square feet of new space going for LEED Platinum certification, a 350 seat auditorium, and a large inner-atrium space, opening-up the Goldwin Smith rotunda for cafe-service areas and entry/egress into Goldwin Smith. Embedded images for each of the four floor plan levels are here in the previous post. Welliver is the general contractor on this project.

Carey Building V: Plaster Ceiling Demo

February 23, 2014 // by Jason Henderson

Throughout past week, Compass Builders have made quick work of the old plaster ceiling demolition, and now that the ceiling is exposed, Sunstream Corp will be commencing remediation on the pipe wrap material starting mid-week. The current piping above the former plaster ceiling provides the supply loop for the radiators, which are returned via separate runs to each unit from below. We found an old heating system drawing from the 1926 installation- the second floor sketch is below.
Once the ceiling was exposed, it confirmed the design intent for the finished space, which would be to leave the concrete ceiling slab, beam and column work exposed in the finished space. One of the more popular renovation (especially office & residential space) trends is to leave old structural elements exposed- the leasing term thrown around is called “brick and beam” space, which implies leaving brick walls, and typically, reinforced concrete columns, beams, and floor slabs exposed. In addition to adding a characteristic style, there are some practical advantages as well: electrical conduit runs and HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) ductwork are visible, providing a transparent view of where services lead, and eliminating the additional time, materials, and complexity of working around finished walls or drop ceilings. There’s about 14 feet of headspace on this level, so the high ceilings provide another desirable advantage.

Westgate Plaza / Finger Lakes Beverage Center

February 21, 2014 // by Jason Henderson

The retail building housing the Finger Lakes Beverage Center and FedEx Office at 605 West State Street, Westgate Plaza looks to begin their renovation work this year, as expected in their site plan review materials submitted in the Summer of last year. The FedEx space has been wrapped with Tyvek, and I’ve heard that work is in full swing on the interior towards the south end of the building. Drawings of the planned exterior are below, along with photos taken a couple weeks ago. The plans will expand the Finger Lakes Beverage Center store area, add an entry along the western wall, a rebuilt pitched roof, parking lot improvements, and a wrap-around awning.

Historic Structures: First Presbyterian Church

February 20, 2014 // by Jason Henderson

First Presbyterian Church (1900), southeast corner of Cayuga Street and Court Street

From Ithaca and its Past:

Presbyterians organized the first permanent church in Ithaca in 1804. On this spot in 1816 they built the first church building, a Federal structure that faced the park. In 1853 they replaced it with a Gothic structure designed by James Renwick, who designed Grace Church in New York City [his first major design commission- he went on to design many other famous works in America, perhaps best known for the landmark St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City]. The current Romanesque building is thus the third church to occupy this site. It was designed by New York City architect J. Cleaveland Cady [South End, American Museum of Natural History] and is most noted for the stained-glass windows in the western apse.

And, concerning DeWitt Park: When Simeon DeWitt began laying out the area, he planned for a town green… and gave some of his land to religious denominations and donated a lot for the courthouse in 1817. Around the green he laid out a few very desirable house lots. In the late 1810s he sold about half of the present park area to the Presbyterian Church, which actually built the first park here. (The church acquired the rest of the land in an exchange with DeWitt.) The park became known as the Publick Square, but the name was later changed to honor DeWitt. The original deed contained the stipulation that the land be maintained as a public walk and promenade. In 1856 the church and the village made an agreement whereby the village took over the care and control of the park but the church retained the title, an agreement still in force.

Courtesy of The History Center in Tompkins County

Photographs of the previous churches built in 1816 and 1853 from the history page of the First Presbyterian Church website:

Church Buildings 1816

Press Bay Alley: Retailer “Boxy Bikes”

February 19, 2014 // by Jason Henderson

A retailer has been set for one of the Press Bay Alley spaces, and it’s Ithaca’s Boxy Bikes, a company that makes custom electric bicycles. They contain a battery, a motor, and are plugged-in at night to charge. “E-bikes” as they’re called, are generally intended as a biking aid, to help climb hills and steep inclines, or for transporting cargo. A couple articles, one last September and another in 2011 noted that E-Bikes are gaining considerable popularity, especially in Europe, where now in the Netherlands (legitimately described as the Western bike capital of the world), every one in six bikes sold is an E-bike. China is an established exporter, as well as having its own strong E-bike market. High-end finished factory models can be quite expensive, so there’s ample room for customizers and DIY-ers. The move-in for Boxy Bikes should be sometime this Spring.

Longest Night Solstice Towers Project Update: Early to Mid-February

February 19, 2014 // by Jason Henderson

Architect John Barradas‘ Longest Night Solstice Towers Project had tower two (or “thing two” as John and Ciappa & Marinelli Builders like to call it) nearly framed to its top out height when I came by for a look this past Friday, February 14th. Tower one’s electrical rough-in is coming close to completion (the wiring job looks very nice), and it’s quite an interesting sight at night with the lights on.

The pictures from February 14th (at the end) contain shots inside tower one and two- tower two’s layout is slightly different (accommodating the elevated path and entry at a different orientation for example), but the functions are the same on each floor- kitchen/living on ground, two separated bedrooms on second, master bedroom and bath on third, and a laundry and storage area on roof level with a terrace.

Tower two has a distinctly different feel being closer to the sidewalk and street, and the view is altered now from inside tower one, however, what I find most interesting about this project is the way in which concepts in other forms of art synthesize within the design. Architecture is a difficult art form since the end result must serve specific functions and be able to accommodate different living and/or working preferences, so it’s fascinating seeing it pulled-off like this. A door is an opening, a window is an opening: the openings are intended to lose the sense of what you would call “the middle ground” of a perspective, a term commonly used in photography and painting. John uses Edward Hopper‘s “Rooms by the Sea” (1951) as a reference, where the open door goes straight to the sea, with nothing in view in between, which is the design intention of using doors on each level.

Another theme is an idea coined by Colin Rowe, in his phrase “grid, frame, lattice.” It’s a way of thinking about the built environment as parts of a whole, in the geometric interpretation. We have a city “grid,” we have individual lots with buildings, our “frame,” and within that frame we have “lattice”: the joists that make up the flooring, the studs that form the walls, the structural elements that form the building. Downtown Ithaca is our grid, the square footprint, symmetry, and situating of the towers represent the intended frame, the floor joists will be left exposed to reveal the lattice, the fencing around the frame is a lattice, the vertical strips on the outside are a lattice, etc.. Architects have a term, “parti,” which is meant to describe the root idea or inspiration of a design, and I never fully understood what that meant until I came across this project.

February 7th:

February 9th:

Around February 11th:

February 14th:

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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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Carey Building IV: More Demolition Photos

February 18, 2014 // by Jason Henderson

Here are some more photos, taken near the end of last week, when the remainder of the walls had been demolished. The old plaster ceiling is coming out these next few days, so I’ll post photos of that later on this week and next. One of the interior (formerly an exterior, see photo of piece below) walls was a combination of cinder block, then terra cotta block, with steel rebar rods run all the way through, then filled with concrete- I guess with older buildings, you never really know what you’re going to run into. The concrete has been quite a challenge as well; it’s probably 5,000 to 7,000 PSI based on how it has behaved with a power chisel. Most foundation, slab, and wall concrete mixes are now typically in the range of 3,000 to 5,000 PSI, so the pours done here in 1922 are probably portland cement with a coarse stone aggregate, which is commonly used for applications where the concrete is exposed to freeze-thaw cycles, so in this case, it would make sense for the exterior walls and structural elements.
Interesting fact- the concrete mix for One World Trade Center’s supporting columns and walls (the building has a central concrete tower, like a vertical bunker) was invented solely for the project, and the higher-range pours have a tested strength of 14,000 PSI.

Seneca Way Interior Photos & Apartments

February 17, 2014 // by Jason Henderson

Seneca Way Apartments hosted a tour last Thursday evening, and I had the opportunity to take some photos of a one bedroom that has been furnished for a model, and a two bedroom unit. Representatives from CSP Management (the building managers) and Newman Development Group explained the features of the building, answered questions, and showed a large crowd around the new building.
The finishes are quite nice, and the units themselves are well laid out, and very modern. The kitchens feature Corian countertops, solid cabinetry, stainless steel Whirlpool appliances, and each unit has its own Whirlpool Duet washer & dryer. The living rooms are all adjacent to the kitchen, with a bar counter in between, and pendant lighting. Some of the bathrooms appear to be ADA-adaptable, with low clearances for entries, and toilets far enough from the wall to install the proper sizing and clearances for grab bars. All bathroom floors are tile, and shower units are fiberglass. The master bedrooms in each two bedroom unit (types C & D) have large walk-in closets, and a private bath off the bedroom.
Warren Real Estate‘s new offices look completed, and by the end of this month, the Park Foundation will begin moving-in.

Floor plans from Seneca Way’s website:

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