It appears that the Hilton Canopy hotel developers put an in-house restaurant back into the mix late in the development process. The new eatery, to be called “Ezra” in what’s ostensibly a nod to Ezra Cornell. Dunno how large the new restaurant will be, but the early designs called for about 2,000 SF of space. In keeping with the Canopy theme, the restaurant logo incorporates Pantone PMS165 orange, with aluminum letters, faced in matte black base vinyl print, and on a wood laminate background intended to mimic Brazilian Walnut. The address for the new 131-room hotel will be 310 East State / Martin Luther King Jr. Street. The signage will be built and installed by Lauretano Sign Group of Connecticut. Outdoor dining spaces will have chic industrial aesthetic tables and chairs and contemporary, durable outdoor furniture.
For those interested, some job openings have been posted for those who wish to be hotel staff. The General Manager has the co-title of “Chief Enthusiast”. Management can expect to make up to $80k/year, but most staff will fall in the $11-$15/hour range, with a bit more for some titles and a bit less ($7.50/hour + tips) for those who will be working in the restaurant. They might be a little higher given those were 2014 figures, but it looks likes only management jobs are being filled at the moment.
As for the construction itself, work on the fiber cement panel and brick veneer installation continues. It looks like a waterproof materials might be going on over the gypsum sheathing, laid over with metal rails and then faced with the exterior material of choice. The rails would allow for any outside moisture absorbed to drain down and off the building. Some of the industrial-style windows are in,with flashing tape surrounding the window to prevent water and air penetration. We also now know what “sauteed mushroom” looks like as an exterior siding color. The hotel is expected to open in “Mid 2019”, probably too late for the May graduations but Q3 2019 looks plausible. The Canopy website comes with a thumbnail interior render, though the resolution isn’t so great:
Further information on the Canopy hotel can be found here.
Ithacating in Cornell Heights 
I’m glad this is finally getting built. Not only do we need more hotel rooms in Ithaca, that vacant lot right next door to the Commons was an eyesore and a huge waste of space. If that low-rise modernist furniture store can ever get replaced, maybe we can have something resembling a functional city block in what’s supposed to be a high-density town center.
[…] restaurant, to be called the Strand Cafe after the theater that once stood on the site (the first proposal referred to it as “Ezra”, presumably for Ezra Cornell but probably too vague for its own good), will serve both […]