When I paid a visit to the Holiday Inn Express site at 371 Elmira Road, I had figured the hotel would be complete and open by now. Unfortunately for them, it is not, which means not only did they miss the cash cow of student move-ins, they’re also missing the early fall, when the tourism trade is still strong and there’s plenty of business activity spurred on by the new academic session. Winters tend to be rough for Ithaca’s hospitality industry due to the seasonal drop in occupancy, and it looks like this hotel will have to suffer through that during its first few months of service.
That noted, it does look like the 79-room hotel will open by late fall. The porte cochere has been assembled and the HIE brand signage has been attached to the facade. The only remaining exterior work on the building seems to be applying the EPDM synthetic rubber coating to the roof, and the rear stairwell. They might be waiting until the interiors are far enough along (i.e. most of the materials have been moved in) before closing up the building, installing the rest of the insulation boards and applying the moisture barrier coats before finishing out the EIFS with the rest of the south face.
Outside the building, curbing has been laid (if you’ve never watched a curbing machine in action, it’s actually really cool – video here) and the lighting has been installed, but landscaping and paving have yet to be completed.
Ithacating in Cornell Heights 
Was there any special reason for the late opening? Was it construction issues?
Have not heard. These people ignored two requests for interviews in May and July.
[…] the case, the hotels opened later than anticipated. The 159-room Marriott finished late last fall, the 76-room Holiday Inn Express was completed a couple months earlier, the Hotel Ithaca went with an expansion that actually reduced the available number of rooms by ten […]