Ithacating in Cornell Heights

With so much construction underway at one site, I figured it’d be easiest to try and color code this using the site plan.

Red boxes overlay townhouse strings that are largely complete from the outside. Green is framed and sheathed (plywood with Tyvek housewrap), but lacks exterior siding, trimboards and architectural details. Blue are townhouse strings where framing is underway. Looking at the site and comparing it to the site plan above, it seems that the community center is actually to the east (right) of the entrance, so there likely going to be two townhouse strings to its left (west), one of which is framed and one of which is just a foundation at this point.

Knowing that the first units are expected to be open for occupancy on April 1st, I’d wager the three strings in red (~30 units) will be ready by that time, the community center and units in green (three strings, ~30 units) will be ready by June 1st, and the three strings in blue (~30 units) will be ready by September 1st. That would give roughly December 2019 and April 2020 for the last two sets, which sounds about right from the construction timeline I’ve seen for a spring 2020 completion.

Rents on the units are as follows, per the project website and multiple apartment advertising websites:

# BRs/ # BAs / Monthly Rent / Square Footage / Unit Code

1 BR 1 Bathroom    $1,695    820 Sq Ft   B
1 BR 1 Bathroom    $1,795    873 Sq Ft   C
2 BRs 2 Bathrooms $1,895 1,093 Sq Ft   A
2 BRs 2 Bathrooms $1,910 1,095 Sq Ft   E
2 BRs 2 Bathrooms $1,975 1,157 Sq Ft   G
2 BRs 2 Bathrooms $1,995 1,090 Sq Ft   F
3 BRs 2 Bathrooms $2,445 1,268 Sq Ft   D

Layouts can be seen here. Each townhouse string contains a mix of 1-3 bedroom units. In total there are 14 three-bedroom, 90 two-bedroom, and 36 one-bedroom units, which doesn;t break down neatly by fourteen townhouse string, so there are some variations.

Those variations also show up in the exterior finishes. The units near completion now use what looks like Certainteed vinyl siding and trimboards. Type “1” is tan and navy blue siding with stone accents around entrances, and Type “2” is slate grey and yellow siding, though I didn’t get a close enough look to see if these have stone accents as well (there were crews actively working on site). The rendering in advertisements suggests there will be a third type, Type “3”, with beige and olive green vinyl siding and stone veneer accents.

Just like the townhouse strings, the community center is a different design than first advertised. So basically, nothing in the built project quite matches the plans that were publicly available, whether it be building designs or site plans. The only things that have stay constant are the fourteen strings of ten units with a community center and a loop road. Not a fan of surprises here, but we’ll see how the finished product is looking once more of the site has been built out later this year.

More information about the project’s history and seemingly accurate details can be found here.