Ithacating in Cornell Heights

At a quick stop at the Carey Building Friday before last, workers at the Carey Building site were busy preparing a utility duct line for the new Hilton Canopy Hotel next door, according to one gentleman I spoke with at the site. Building contractor LeChase Construction has completed the underpinning work on the Carey Building, strengthening the foundation to support the five-floor vertical addition. LeChase will also be handling the construction of the Canopy Hotel next door.

The Carey Building itself has sidewalk scaffolding up, and a section of the rear facade has been removed. I think that would be for the construction hoist, and the swing cab telescoping boom construction crane in the second photo is the one that’s being used for assembly of the structural steel. Quick disclaimer, if I’m wrong, please call me out. My day job of studying pollutants and puffy clouds isn’t helpful here.

I also had the good fortune to run into developer Frost Travis while having lunch, and he happily stated that steelwork would begin the week of June 8th (which is about two weeks behind schedule, but let’s not begrudge him given that whole issue with the building design that arose a couple months back).

So of course, swinging by to take updated photos was a must. One week later, there’s steel columns five stories high (the height of the addition), with steel crossbars for stability, and joining plates to secure the steel framing for the floors. My marginally-educated guess is that this is the frame for the elevator shaft, based off the floor plans.

The Carey Building addition will add a third floor and 4,200 sq ft to the Rev business incubator (nearly doubling it to 8,700 sq ft), and on floors 4-7, there will be 20 apartments. Floors 4 and 5 will have 16 studio apartment units that average only 400-500 sq ft, their small size enabling them to be rented at a lower price. The 4 units on floors 6 and 7 will be larger 2-bedroom units. The $4.1 million project is being developed by local firm Travis Hyde Companies.

Expect this project to finish sometime in the very late summer-early fall timeframe.