© Ithaca Builds, 2026
June 21, 2013 // by Jason Henderson
Looks like they’ve been filling-in the future paved portions with gravel, and rolling the dirt where the building will sit. Definitely a sign of slab on grade foundation. Once it’s flattened-out and settled properly, the footer will be dug out along the edges for the reinforcement bars and deeper concrete fill, then the slab section will be filled with concrete.
June 20, 2013 // by Jason Henderson
Western facade looks completed, and they’re closing in on completing the eastern half of the northern side. I imagine that doing the eastern and southern sides will be more tricky since there’s less room to maneuver the lifts and those sides have Seneca St. and Cayuga Street. Cayuga’s side has a decent setback, but Seneca is State Route 79, so beyond the setback and parking lane, it’s typically fast moving cars and truck traffic, which has been held-up further east for a couple weeks with the new sewer and water service work for the Seneca Way project.
June 18, 2013 // by Jason Henderson
Bank Alley demolition is coming along, and the crossings were being paved with fresh asphalt today. It’s quite a spectacle seeing an excavator as big as the one they’re using carefully maneuver between historic buildings and overtop the barriers, all the while people are going on as usual. I can’t imagine downtown Ithaca without the Commons being the major pedestrian crossroad.
June 16, 2013 // by Jason Henderson
Well, well, we’ve got a change of hands on this parcel- there were three registered bidders, and it sold for $143k. There was a surveyor out there when I was taking pictures. This was a former one-story commercial building that contained a thrift store for the Salvation Army, but they sold it in 2009 for $175k. Not sure what the plans are, but I’m sure we’ll find out soon enough. Site is .59 acres, zoning is SW-2, so the developer could conceivably go as high as 60 feet.
June 16, 2013 // by Jason Henderson
Not much change; there are a few more piles of dirt and stone, but I thought I’d post anyway. When I ran by there were a few gentlemen in discussion, so maybe they’re assessing the soil conditions.
June 14, 2013 // by Jason Henderson
Brick by brick, the north side facade is going up, and now there are a handful of windows in.
June 14, 2013 // by Jason Henderson
There’s fresh asphalt in the parking lot, and what looks like a finished facade. On the outside, all they’ve got left is striping, the swoop and entrance face work, and landscaping, so the finish-work on the interior must be the main focus right now.
June 13, 2013 // by Jason Henderson
The glass box now has glass, and the colorful State Street facades have just about been completed. There’s not much change on building 3.4, but I bet finishing that facade comes next. It’s hard to get a good glimpse of it, but the large drilling rig must mean that excavation work for building 5 and/or 6 is moving ahead. I tried to get a shot of the whole project from the opposite hill, but now that summer is in full swing, the leaves hide everything. I’ll take one in the Fall. There’s also a shot of the relatively new Giles St foot bridge. It’s nice.
June 13, 2013 // by Jason Henderson
Exterior and interior wall framing is moving along, and take a look at the forms going in along the street for the new sewer and water service. That lane has been closed off since the beginning of last week, with the municipal work expected to last three weeks, but seeing where they’re at now, I think it may take a bit longer; that’s a lot of digging.
June 13, 2013 // by Jason Henderson
The work zone is just about all dirt now, with the exception of Bank Alley, where the planters and walk paths are getting jacked out and hauled away. If you’re inside one of the buildings next door, you can feel the vibrations from the demolition work, which must be annoying, but it’s cool to watch it all happen.
