Ithacating in Cornell Heights

Number two on the follow-up of Collegetown mid-rises, the 22-unit, 53-bedroom Dryden Eddy Apartments should be open to tenants by this Friday. According to developer Steve Fontana, the issue was that the elevator had yet to be fully integrated with the fire alarm system, so the city couldn’t issue a certificate of occupancy until that was taken care of.

Also worth noting, Fontana has secured two tenants for the first-floor commercial space (originally it was supposed to be a gym, but those plans faded out at some point). The Papachryssanthos family, one of Collegetowns old greek families and the proprietors of the Souvlaki House two buildings down, will be splitting the 1800 SF into a liquor store (aptly named “Ithaca Wine and Spirits”) and a café called “Chatty Cathy”. The owners of the East Asian grocer Tung Fong retired, and the Pixel bar and Club Sudz laundromat have passed into memory.

While not as ground-breaking as 307 College, 327 Eddy still serves as a useful addition to Collegetown, offering density in an appropriate location and maintaining a wall-to-wall streetscape with its neighbors. The density will be an asset by providing additional foot traffic to neighborhood businesses, and (back-of-the-envelope estimate) there will be an additional $160,000/year in property tax revenues for the city, county and school district. The final product fits in with a nice design, though I personally prefer the originally-approved plan, with one more floor and a crown set back from the face in the shape of a triangular prism. The rectangular crown makes it look too similar to its neighbor down the road at 309 Eddy. Something I had not realized until now was that the rear (east) face was totally reworked as well, with bay window projections instead of the smaller “punch-out” windows, which comparing the two, seems to be an improvement. But I digress, taste is subjective.

The construction cost was at least $4.824 million, with financing provided by Tompkins Trust Company. G.M. Crisalli and Associates of Syracuse served as general contractor for the project.

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