© Ithaca Builds, 2026
July 30, 2013 // by Jason Henderson
No signs of building yet for the Maguire Fiat dealership, but I suppose this is where you go to purchase a Dodge Ram.
Just a stone’s throw away, in the empty stretch of asphalt next door, something must be in the works here at the old shell for K-Mart, which closed in October 2011. I haven’t a clue what exactly..
July 29, 2013 // by Jason Henderson
There’s a new asphalt walk along the backside of the building, the front entrance still needs some work, and I saw some lighting fixtures being installed through the windows, but this project seems to be wrapping-up, which is just a shame, since it’s really been a pleasure jogging along Route 13 to snap photos (cough). All in all, besides the awful color mismatch of the corporate logo, the building looks simple and somewhat visually-pleasing.
It will be interesting to see the popularity and occupancies of the new hotel projects coming online, especially since I imagine anyone visiting Ithaca to see Ithaca would probably prefer to be downtown, or at a suburban or rural bed and breakfast. Parents of college students or prospective families visiting are likely to take whatever is available, and would probably be much less concerned with location within Ithaca, so long as the hotel has ground-level parking for the car-dependent activities of moving their student(s) in and out of a dorm or apartment.
…And a random FYI, just down the street, this Friendly’s is closing
July 25, 2013 // by Jason Henderson
Wow, lots of decking work has been moving along, and it’s really noticeable from the exterior because now all the window gaps look really dark from the outside looking in. There’s another set of wall panels sitting on the trailer to the east, and wood reinforcements have made their way to the fifth floor, so we’ll probably see those go up soon. These shots are from today and Monday.
July 25, 2013 // by Jason Henderson
Here are some more photos of the spaceship. Besides some work on the future main entry, I didn’t notice much change on the exterior from two weeks prior. Archdaily has a few posts about Thom Mayne (the architect), and in fact, he’ll be designing the first landmark building for the NYC Tech Campus. If you like this sort of work, here’s an extensive post on Cooper Union, a building he designed and was finished in 2009.
July 24, 2013 // by Jason Henderson
We’ve got some footer forms and rebar cages for the building’s foundation here. Definitely makes the site look bigger for some reason. This was primarily done in the past 10 days, and will probably continue for another few weeks, then concrete pouring once the weather cooperates. This is probably going to be either a supported or floating slab foundation; see diagram below for some example cross-sections.
July 24, 2013 // by Jason Henderson
Lot #14 (Number 112) is all done and Lot #2 is coming along. There’s a new gravel path towards Lot #19 (just sold, way in the back), so site work there should begin soon. The planned townhouses will go north-south along this new path, and also east-west along an additional drive to be built going east.
July 23, 2013 // by Jason Henderson
Randomly caught a rare moment when no cars or people were traversing East Ave, so here’s a panorama of Goldwin Smith and some shots of the current site. Wish I had centered this shot better, but as you can see from the architectural rendering, Klarman’s roofline will intersect Goldwin’s dormer windows. Much of Goldwin’s roof will still be prominently visible, but not much of the eastern facade, which is understandable. Goldwin contains no main eastern entrances, so walking along East Ave would give you the impression that you’re staring at the back of the building, which is the case anyway.
July 22, 2013 // by Jason Henderson
Some paving and landscaping work has begun in front of Building 3.4, and you can see Building 5’s framing making its way towards Casa Roma. The State Street storm water drainage pipe is paved over and looks completed, along with a stretch of sidewalk in front of the Williams House.
July 18, 2013 // by Jason Henderson
Brick facade installation has noticeably picked-up speed, and I saw a truck full of tub surrounds being unloaded today. I bet once both scaffolding platforms are laying bricks on the south face, it will go quite fast; maybe even finished or nearly done with bricks next week.
July 16, 2013 // by Jason Henderson
Fourth story wall panels are up, and steel stud walls look like they’re following suit. I wouldn’t want to be up there working this week though, temperatures in the high 90’s, yikes.
