Ithacating in Cornell Heights

With the foundation work completed, the downtown Ithaca Marriott is heading skyward, now up to the third floor as of these photos from last week. From Green Street, one can see the rising south stairwell, the future trash and recycling room (basement floor), future restrooms and offices on the lobby floor, and hotel rooms on the floors above the lobby. Also on the basement floor are the fitness center, maintenance and linen rooms, storage space and utilities. Delivery trucks will pull in and unload under the cavernous space on the left side of the second photo.

The lobby area facing Aurora Street may just be a concrete shell with some temporary lighting rigs at the moment, but in a year or so, that space will host a new 80-seat restaurant, which will be combination of lounge seats, bar seats and traditional tables. The kitchen and prep area will be set back from the street, facing the Green Street garage.

The second floor facing Aurora Street, which will have a glass curtain wall (or as it’s called in the elevations, a “thermally broken translucent linear channel glazing system”), will contain two large meeting rooms. 4 guestrooms will also be located on the second floor. Above that, the third floor will have 14 guestrooms, assuming the 2013 construction docs are still accurate.

The 10-story, 159 room hotel is expected to cost over $32 million and. According to the Ithaca Times, a general manager has been named and the hotel will officially open for its first guests on August 23rd, 2016. Suburban D.C.-based Urgo Hotels is the developer, Atlanta’s Cooper Carry Architecture is the designer, and William H. Lane Inc. of Binghamton (with a new Ithaca office as of last year) is the general contractor.