News Tidbits 1/11/2014: Unhappy Faces on Roosevelt Island

11 01 2014
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Image Property of Cornell University

Full disclaimer: I’ve never been a fan of the tech campus. I’ve also never been a fan of Morphosis/Thom Mayne’s work.

New York is a different creature when it comes to approvals. This isn’t Ithaca, where many folks feel that Cornell’s large presence makes the local community behooved to approve whatever the university wants to build. Here, people tend to be a lot more vocal, and perhaps a lot more negative. Folks in New York are especially wary of Thom Mayne because of his involvement with the 41 Cooper Square project, a building that has been seen as one of the underlying causes of the financial crisis experienced by local college Cooper Union, which has led to an end of their famous “free tuition” policy.

Last month, Cornell revealed the first phase of the tech campus, which Curbed NY has covered in extensive detail. The first phase has three components; 1) a 150,000 sq ft, 4-story building designed by Thom Mayne (the building lower left; the roof is covered with solar panels, or what Thom Mayne calls a “lily pad”) 2) A six-story, 200,000 sq ft “Colocation Building”, which is designed for corporate and school interaction. This is the building to the right, and is designed by another Cornell favorite, Weiss/Manfredi Architects, and 3) The residential building, represented by the tall featureless box. A design has not been finalized, but is being handled by developer Hudson Companies, in conjunction with Handel Architects. This build will house about 350 units, with larger units for faculty. Construction for the residential tower is proposed for a 2015 start. The campus is wrapped in green space by architect James Corner, who designed a campus without walls and to invite the public to check the school out, and all of this using an Skidmore, Owings and Merrill master plan.

Community groups are difficult to please, however. Although the net zero energy aspect was pleasing, complaints were raised about the large loss of trees, a lack of equipment for the hearing-impaired in the new academic building, and a lack of cohesiveness as the result of so many starchitects trying to compete with each other for attention. Regardless of the complaints, construction is supposed to be underway starting this month. New York and Bloomberg have previously stipulated that the first building must be open by 2017, or Cornell will face major penalties.

On the bright side, Cornell’s getting crap tons of money thrown at its New York investments. Following Chuck Fenney ’56’s $350 million donation to the tech campus, former Qualcomm Chairman Irwin Jacobs ’56 gave a $133 million donation last April, and total donations to the tech campus exceed $500 million. Weill Cornell has not been left out by all this tech campus attention; they were the recent recipients of a $75 million donation for cancer research, courtesy of former CEO of Grey Global Group Edward Mayer ’48 and his family.

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Image Property of Cornell University


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Miscellaneous Project Updates, 12/2013

9 01 2014

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After forever and a day, the Argos Inn is finally open, and the “Bar Argos” watering hole opens to the public January 17th. The high-end boutique hotel offers 10 choices of rooms to the deep-pocketed visitor.

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Apart from some underground telecommunications that still need to be tweaked, phase II of the Commons renovation, the utility rehabilitation and replacement, is complete. Surface improvements (i.e. the pretty things) will begin this spring, or sooner if the rest of the winter turns fairly mild (not likely).

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Press Bay Alley. It’s a project I’ve never really covered on this blog, but Jason’s kept a watchful eye on over at Ithaca Builds. What we have here is a rather unusual concept, urban micro-retail, which is becoming popular as a form of urban infill in larger walkable communities. The recent renovated space right across the alley has an “entertainment venue” proposed, which would complement retail well. It’s a great idea as a sort of micro-business incubator; if a retailer’s concept works out, hopefully the retailer will move to a larger space within the community.

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Sheathing and waterproofing are complete at Planned Parenthood’s new 16,000 sq ft location (not 18,000 as I initially wrote last year), located northwest of downtown on West Seneca Street near Meadow. Windows have yet to be installed, (as of December 30th), but I would say they’re not far off. Planned Parenthood hopes to have the $6.12 million building completed by May 2014.

 


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Stocking and Klarman Hall Progress Photos, 12/2013

7 01 2014

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This photo is probably timed similarly to Jason’s over at Ithaca Builds. Consistent with his analysis, a little bit of scaffolding visible in this image gives indication of the roof work being done to Goldwin Smith, and underground work over east Avenue is closed up, if temporarily. The $61 million dollar token glassy box adds 33,250 sq ft of new usable space.

Note for Cornell visitors – from this Wednesday (Jan 8th) to April 19th, 2015, the southbound lane of East Avenue will be closed to facilitate construction of Klarman Hall. I’d get around to feeling sympathetic, but I had the Thurston Ave. bridge detour my freshman year, and then years of Milstein, so…eh. Deal with it.

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The time difference between photos 1/2 and 3 is about 15 days. I just happened to pass through Ithaca twice in December, for two separate events (the first one though, I was only able to take photos on Cornell campus). I doubt I’ll be as lucky in the next few months.

Stocking Hall phase 2 is underway. Luckily for me, I have a friend that is a food science alum, who sends me all of the email updates. Quoting the one sent this past Thursday:

Phase 2 of the renovation project started several months ago with a focus on getting as much of the slate roof replaced as possible before winter. I think they were able to get about 70% of Stocking re-roofed. Asbestos abatement was the first part of the inside work. Once a floor was abated, Pike [construction company] worked on demolishing all interior walls.  Last Thursday (1/2/14) an independent testing agency certified the air test was safe after the abatement was completed on all floors. We took our first look on Friday.

The basement has been gutted, the first floor has undergone asbestos abatement and will begin demo shortly, the second and fourth floors have been gutted, and the third floor isn’t far along, still in the initial teardown/salvage stage. The renovation of old Stocking is due to be complete in August 2014.


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Collegetown Terrace Progress Photos, 12/2013

6 01 2014

I always carry a second set of charged batteries on me when I do these little photo tours, because the last thing I want is to have my day cut prematurely short, or pay out the nose for a new pack of AAs (I rotate through two sets of rechargeables, for the record). It doesn’t help me much when I leave the extra set on the passenger’s seat of my car, which is parked way up on Pearl Street. I was cold and soaked to the bone by the time I finally finished getting all the shots I wanted. Here, there are not only construction photos, but also shots from some less familiar angles of the project.

It still astounds me when I think of the numbers associated with this project. Seven buildings over 12 acres. The net increase in bedrooms is 589 (1,226 total, in at least 610 units). The construction cost exceeds $70 million. Using the Danter study (which assumes a 98-99% occupancy rate), that would mean 580 more residents in this area (although given the intended market, it’s mostly re-appropriation of tenants from other parts of the county). That’s more than the population of nearby Freeville. Certainly, the project has been fraught with contentious debate since it was first proposed. As development goes, it’s the proverbial 800-pound gorilla.

Buildings 5 and 6 are well-underway, heading towards a completion/occupancy date of August 2014; building 7, which is very similar to building 5 but further south (i.e. deeper into) on the property, will be constructed in the 2014-2015 timeframe.

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Building 5 and the elevated walkway.

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Building 6, complete with winter-friendly plastic wrap.

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The rear addition of the George C. Williams House.

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The “Mithcell Plaza“, which incorporates elements from the locally-relevant Delano House that was demolished to make way for the project.

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Vinyl-tastic. I thought these were supposed to be metal panels…?

 

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No one mind me, I just needed a place to briefly dry off.


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Gates Hall Progress Photos, 12/2013

5 01 2014

 

With an anticipated opening date early in 2014 (slightly behind schedule), the $60 million, 101,000 sq ft Gates Hall project is nearly complete. The work left at this point appears to be completion of the primary entrance structures (the “feet”, to use Jason’s term), a little landscaping, and interior work. Kinda odd to think the discussion of Gates Hall on this blog goes back to nearly the very beginning (and technically, since Bill Gates donated the money in 2006, this project has been in queue for even longer).

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Breckinridge Place and Seneca Way Progress Photos, December 2013

4 01 2014

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Breckinridge Place and its 50 units move closer to completion. In his last update, Jason over at Ithaca Builds noted the removal of bricks for what he surmised to be the architectural shades, although in the renderings they were located only two-thirds up the windows, rather than at the top. These photos seem to support that. The building is slated to open in early 2014, and at least from the outside, it looks like only minor work remains.

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Across downtown, Seneca Way is putting the finishing touches on its eastern facade as it inches toward its opening date this month (haven’t heard specifics, so I’m assuming a soft opening). Apart from a few details like installation of garage doors on the ground level, signage and some ground work, this building is nearly complete as well. Seneca Way brings 38 apartments and 8,600 sq ft of office space to downtown Ithaca.


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Belle Sherman Cottages and Boiceville Cottages Progress, 12/2013

3 01 2014

Over my New Year’s holiday, I passed from Albany to Binghamton to Ithaca, to meet with someone and carpool west to Buffalo. This gave me a few hours to kill waiting for that person to arrive, so…carpe diem.

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I really don’t care for the finish on the new cottages. It makes them look prematurely aged and gives them a less inviting appearance vs. their older cohorts.

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Compared to the last photos, the cluster in the left of the second photo from top is now complete, with slab foundations in place for the next dozen cottages. I suspect these will mostly be built during the spring.

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Notably, when this day started, it was raining and in the low 40s.

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Next up were the Belle Sherman Cottages (a.k.a. Vine Street Cottages) on the east edge of the city.

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The “craftsman bungalow” on lot 19 is nearing completion, from the looks of it.

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Meanwhile, another house will be starting construction in the near future. This one looks to be lot 14, another “Victorian Farmhouse”, like the beige home in the lead-in photo. I wonder how many homes will have to be sold before marketing starts for the townhouses?

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As a quick side note, I noticed the grassy lot next to where I usually to park my car is now occupied by a two-story home. It’s not the same as the spec home proposed in the initial ad (the lot sold last August), but this house doesn’t look half bad (the entryway seems a little spartan).


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Another Apartment Complex Considered for Cornell Heights

26 12 2013

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Original concept description with renderings here, meeting minutes here. The project is a in-the-works proposal by Campus Acquisitions LLC, the design by Shepley Bulfinch Architects of Boston. Campus Acquisitions, if I have this correct, looks to be a Chicago-based investment group with projects generally clustered around Chicagoland, and a number of college towns along the West Coast and Interior West.

The parcels of land in question are “150 and 152 Highland Avenue”, an underutilized lot (152), and a bungalow built in 1920 (150). The bungalow appears to be a 2-unit home owned by Travis Hyde properties. 152 Highland is a heavily wooded, steeply graded vacant parcel, but has a little bit of Cornell lore associated with it, as it was home to Phi Kappa Sigma’s swimming pool (the house, named “Greentrees”, is now Pi Kappa Phi, the pool is now unused and decaying). The 2.49 acre parcel was originally bought in 1996 by Travis Hyde properties with the intention of apartments, but nothing came of the parcel. The property was on-again off-again in local real estate listings (asking for 200k), and was last delisted (sold?) in June 2012.

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The image above uses one of the old design concepts. The bungalow is proposed for renovation, though I am not sure what role, if any, Travis Hyde properties has in the development (something in conjunction with the other parcel, maybe?). The original conceptuals for “1 Ridgewood” proposed as many as 70 units, later reduced to 64 units (four floors over an underground garage) in the first design proposal, released this past fall:

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This didn’t work for multiple reasons. For one, many of the deep-pocketed local land owners are strongly opposed to more development; I’ve known for years that the venerable widow who owns the house south of the property on Highland (she was a fixture at my fraternity’s annual wine-and-cheese event, and a pleasure to chat with) has been fiercely opposed to any construction on that site. For two, the property is in the Cornell Heights historic district, which subjects it to more stringent and evolving design and massing guidelines. The latest concept calls for 45 units in 3 smaller structures, with a mix of surface and underground parking. At some point in the near future, the formal proposal will likely appear on the planning board’s agenda.

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The “Greenways” Project

23 12 2013
Image property of Greenways at Eastwood Commons

Image property of Greenways at Eastwood Commons

Back around September 2012, I posted an entry detailing a project proposed for the Eastwood Commons area southeast of Cornell’s campus, off of Honness Lane. The project, which involved the construction of 67 townhouses, was the result of a partnership between Cornell and a private company, the land would be bought from Cornell, and Cornell employees would get first dibs on the housing. At the time, the project didn’t have a name, so colloquially I had referred to it as the “Cornell townhomes project”.

Fast forward to this past spring. From someone who owned a townhouse in Eastwood Commons, I had been told that the project was a stalled proposal; the infrastructure costs had been underestimated, and would have priced the townhouse units out of the $200k price range that they were intended for. Not feasible, therefore no development. Which apparently made the nearby residents very happy.

Last week, I had noticed INHS had revamped their website. One of the projects listed was Greenways, described as “a new townhome community in the town of Ithaca”. I was not familiar with the name, an initial internet search didn’t turn up anything, Jason at Ithaca Builds wasn’t familiar with it, so my first inclination was to think this was some sort of new proposal along the lines of INHS’s Holly Creek.

A second search, playing with different search terms, turned up a Cornell Sun article on the Cornell townhomes project. It mentioned two details I had long-since forgotten – one, INHS was offering subsidies to the developers for construction costs (to keep the units in the affordable range), and two, the developer’s name was “Greenways at Eastwood Commons”.

So, maybe the project isn’t a stale proposal, and some work is going on behind the scenes to allow the project to come to fruition. It’s supposed to have a 5-year buildout, but there have been enough projects cancelled or postponed in recent months to make me cautious until I at least see shovels start going into the ground.

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Yet Another Makeover for Statler Hall

16 12 2013

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Another makeover is planned for a section of the Statler, this time the circa 1987 PoMo front entrance space. As noted by Ithaca Builds, the addition, at a cost of $2.4 million, calls for a modernized pop-out addition and entrance on the west face of Statler Hall (the side facing East Avenue) with new landscaping and pedestrian features. The project adds a relatively modest 1,619 sq ft to the Statler, with 319 sq ft on the first floor, and 1,300 sq ft on the second floor. The exhaustive summary of the project is included on their website here, with more renderings here. The timeline for construction is a short three months, May to August 2014.

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This is the third renovation in the series, all by Philly-based KSS Architects. The first phase involved the construction of the Beck Center in 2004, which added 36,000 sq ft and renovated 16,000 sq ft on the east wing of Statler Hall. The second phase added 14,000 sq ft on the south face of the Statler, and was completed in 2010. Since the Hotel School is landlocked with little hope of re-purposing nearby property, the procedure with new structures always involves additions and renovations, rather than totally new buildings as we would see in other schools. The Statler was first built in 1949 on what was previously four homes of faculty row (at one point, a few dozen faculty had homes on Cornell campus, other examples include what was once Grove Place on what is now the Engineering Quad, and another cluster of homes where Savage-Kinzelberg Hall stands today). The auditorium was added to the south end in 1956, and further renovations were undertaken in 1959 and 1968. The hotel tower was added along with this front entrance in 1986/87. If history is any indicator, his will not be the last addition or renovation.


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