Ithaca Builds

Mapping, photos and information for Ithaca construction and development projects

327 Eddy Street Mixed-Use Building Proposal

June 30, 2014 // by Jason Henderson

No doubt, more housing for collegetown here as Ithacating noted last week: the Fontana Apartments building (Club Sudz, former Tung Fong, and Pixel bar in back) may be demolished to make way for a stepped-foundation 6-story mixed-use building to contain 28 apartments on the upper floors and probably retail commercial on the ground floors (plus core space for utilities and stairwells/elevator). The sketch plan submission images are below, done by Architect Jagat Sharma.

I can’t help but be reminded of the Old Town/Royal Mile in Edinburgh, Scotland, where some of the earliest-recorded skyscrapers were built to a height up to 14-stories high, aided by stepped foundations along the steep hillside of the ridge below the castle, so many of the floors were partially supported by solid ground, then stepped-down further up or down. Still, in the days before modern concrete and steel framing techniques, it must have been quite a feat, since they were built entirely out of stone for foundations and facades, and wood framing (a fire in 1700 forced many of these down, however, a large amount of great buildings remain in excellent condition, part of the reason it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site).

This parcel shows a lot of 52 x 119 feet, so if we back-out rear-yard setback and the courtyard areas, six stories times ~5,000 SF per floor gets to a rough total of ~30,000 SF. Minus ground floor commercial (5,000 including some mechanical space) and circulation (say around 12% for the remaining floors), average unit size may be around 800 SF.

327 Eddy Street - Mixed-Use Building - Sketch Plan Drawings - 06-24-14_Page_1

327 Eddy Street - Mixed-Use Building - Sketch Plan Drawings - 06-24-14_Page_2

327-Eddy-Fontana-Apartments-Ithaca-0628141

327 Eddy Street - Mixed-Use Building - Sketch Plan Drawings - 06-24-14_Page_4

327 Eddy Street - Mixed-Use Building - Sketch Plan Drawings - 06-24-14_Page_3

Full Plans Here

Dryden South Project in Collegetown

June 14, 2014 // by Jason Henderson

Pat Kraft, the owner of Kraftees College Town has proposed a new building on the site at which the business resides, 205 Dryden Road at last month’s City Planning and Development Board meeting. The current structure is a remodeled wood-framed house, with a rear addition and storefront. The consulting architect, Jagat P. Sharma, has developed a concept sketch plan showing a six-story building, with a west side centered stairwell and elevator tower, ground floor commercial space, and symmetrical four-bedroom units (two per floor), for a total of 10 four bedroom apartments. The development is allowable due to the Collegetown re-zoning, which does not require minimum parking for MU-2 (Mixed-Use 2) parcels, which 205 Dryden Road was re-zoned to. Sketch plan submission here, with shots below:

Dryden-South-1

Dryden-South-2

Dryden-South-3

Dryden-South-4

Collegetown Re-Zoning (Full Document Here):
Proposed CAFD - Stand-Alone Map

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

Collegetown Crossing Proposed Site Photos

July 14, 2013 // by Jason Henderson

307 College Ave as it sits now. It will be nice to see Collegetown Crossing move forward, so hopefully the parking will get sorted out sooner rather than later. A group of Cornell graduate students were tasked with updating the area’s parking study from 2000, and came to the general conclusion that there’s enough parking, but the location and price are inefficient. Mayor Svante Myrick has backed the project, and the revision or elimination of parking minimums.

Collegetown_Crossing_8103

Collegetown_Crossing_Render