Breckinridge Place and its 50 units move closer to completion. In his last update, Jason over at Ithaca Builds noted the removal of bricks for what he surmised to be the architectural shades, although in the renderings they were located only two-thirds up the windows, rather than at the top. These photos seem to support that. The building is slated to open in early 2014, and at least from the outside, it looks like only minor work remains.
Across downtown, Seneca Way is putting the finishing touches on its eastern facade as it inches toward its opening date this month (haven’t heard specifics, so I’m assuming a soft opening). Apart from a few details like installation of garage doors on the ground level, signage and some ground work, this building is nearly complete as well. Seneca Way brings 38 apartments and 8,600 sq ft of office space to downtown Ithaca.
Ithacating in Cornell Heights 
Thanks for posting the pics. It’s nice to see these two downtown bookends finally near completion. Now if the two big hotel projects could just get started…….
Breckenridge Place is nice, though I don’t really get the asymmetry of the glass wall portion. It should have been an all-brick facade or the glass curtain should have been mirrored on either side.
Retail at the base would have been nice as well; I wonder why this component fell out of the design.
Seneca Way is a serious disappointment architecturally, though. Why the blank brick wall at street level instead of engaging retail space? Why the parking lots on either side instead of leaving space for other developments that could extend the street wall? Why the tiny windows, as if this is some sort of medieval castle keep?
I get that this is Ithaca and it’s ridiculous to complain about the amount of parking surrounding a building when everyone here drives or lack of retail space when half of downtown Ithaca’s are empty, but if the city is serious about planning for a mixed-use downtown it should be encouraging planning of spaces for close-knit development and fuller storefronts for a future when these things are in demand, rather than discouraging this demand from developing by allowing more blank walls and empty lots.