Ithacating in Cornell Heights

Image property of Greenways at Eastwood Commons

Back around September 2012, I posted an entry detailing a project proposed for the Eastwood Commons area southeast of Cornell’s campus, off of Honness Lane. The project, which involved the construction of 67 townhouses, was the result of a partnership between Cornell and a private company, the land would be bought from Cornell, and Cornell employees would get first dibs on the housing. At the time, the project didn’t have a name, so colloquially I had referred to it as the “Cornell townhomes project”.

Fast forward to this past spring. From someone who owned a townhouse in Eastwood Commons, I had been told that the project was a stalled proposal; the infrastructure costs had been underestimated, and would have priced the townhouse units out of the $200k price range that they were intended for. Not feasible, therefore no development. Which apparently made the nearby residents very happy.

Last week, I had noticed INHS had revamped their website. One of the projects listed was Greenways, described as “a new townhome community in the town of Ithaca”. I was not familiar with the name, an initial internet search didn’t turn up anything, Jason at Ithaca Builds wasn’t familiar with it, so my first inclination was to think this was some sort of new proposal along the lines of INHS’s Holly Creek.

A second search, playing with different search terms, turned up a Cornell Sun article on the Cornell townhomes project. It mentioned two details I had long-since forgotten – one, INHS was offering subsidies to the developers for construction costs (to keep the units in the affordable range), and two, the developer’s name was “Greenways at Eastwood Commons”.

So, maybe the project isn’t a stale proposal, and some work is going on behind the scenes to allow the project to come to fruition. It’s supposed to have a 5-year buildout, but there have been enough projects cancelled or postponed in recent months to make me cautious until I at least see shovels start going into the ground.