Ithacating in Cornell Heights

This is another one of those modest-sized infill projects where if you blink, you might just miss it.

1001 North Aurora is on the north end of Fall Creek, across the street from the elementary school. The plan replaces an old though not especially historic single-family home with twom two-family homes, each unit with three bedrooms for a total twelve. Four parking spaces are included. The project was approved in October 2016 by the city planning board; the lot subdivision that triggered board review.

Over the course of review, the board requested a little more character in the house designs, including more windows, two different shades of lap siding (which will be LP SmartSide wood siding, painted Sherwin-Williams “Rice Grain” and “Sawdust”), and dormers. The materials also include Owens Corning TruDefinition “Terra Cotta” shingles and S-W “Nacre” trim boards. The initial design looked like this, and the final is shown below. The eastern building will not have the dormer, and may not have the pocket windows in the west wall either, as those were stated to be cost-dependent. The side facing Aurora, however, has to put them in as a stipulation of the approvals; after some recent issues with other projects, the board’s been getting a little more assertive when it comes to building details being built as approved.

The developer is Stavros Stavropoulos. The Stavropoulos family is perhaps best known for running State Street Diner, but recently they’ve been wading deeper into the development pool, building a new two-family home at 514 Linn Street and a two-family addition onto 318-320 Pleasant Street. Tompkins Trust gave a $400,000 construction loan to this project back in August.

Each unit will ring in at about 1200 square feet. Local architect Daniel R. Hirtler, fresh off of another duplex on the corner of Oak Avenue and Oneida Place in Collegetown, is in charge of design. Construction is expected to wrap up by the end of May 2017. According to Craigslist, the units are renting for about $2325 each ($775/bedroom), and two of the four units are already rented. Quote:

“New duplexes featuring 3 bedroom, 1.5 bath apartments. Open floor plans, ductless heating and cooling in every room, hardwood floors, stainless steel appliances, corian counter tops, stackable washer and dryer, fully furnished, off street parking and much more.”

You’ll notice in the photos below that the completed foundation slab sits a little above the ground – the northern part of Fall Creek has a high water table, so to help avoid water/flooding issues, the buildings are raised slightly. Wood framing is just beginning, so look for these to take shape as we finish out the winter and head into spring.

Quick final detail – 1001 North Aurora Street was the old address. These properties will use addresses on the 200 Block of Queen Street.