Work on the new Holiday Inn Express at 371 Elmira Road is progressing. the foundation work is currently underway. It looks like they’re going with a shallow, slab-on-grade foundation that spreads the weight of a building all around the concrete slab. The formwork’s been done, and rebar criss-crosses the yet-to-be-poured concrete. The rebar mesh is a reinforcement for the concrete when it gets poured, helping to prevent cracks that may form in the concrete from spreading throughout the foundation and causing major damage. The blue tubes are a part of the under-slab utilities. Elsewhere on the site, it looks like stacks of Tembec and Millar Western Canadian lumber are being used to assemble wood trusses that will be used in the hotel’s wooden frame.
The 4-story, 79-room hotel is expected to open late this summer. Rudra Management and Rosewood Hotels (Jayesh Patel) of suburban Buffalo is the developer.
Ithacating in Cornell Heights 
This one is on grout piers. Haywood Baker augered down and then injected a grout slurry into the space as the augers were removed. This densifies the soil and provides a bearing surface for the slab.
A layer of stone has been added to improve conditions. Wait to see how the parking lot looks in five years. Not much can be done about that.
Subsurface conditions are variable in this part of Ithaca. Across the road it is very soft, on the Holiday Inn side it can change pretty quickly as you approach the toe of the slope. Depth to rock can go from shallow to deep depending on the exact location. Building in the flats of Ithaca is not for the faint of heart.