Village Solars Construction Update, 9/2017

1 10 2017

It looks like the Village Solars are moving along, albeit at the slowest pace in years. Since 102 Village Place was torn down back in June, the site was cleared, the foundation and underground utilities reconfigured, and framing has begun on its replacement. The wood frame was up to the top floor by the time of this late September site visit, and erection of the roof trusses was due to take place in just a few days. The housewrap is already in place, and as the interior receives its frames, pipes, wiring and rough-ins, work will being on window and door fittings. Probably looking at an early spring finish here.

Note that it’s not uncommon to just housewrap over the rough openings, and cut out the holes later. The excess will be trimmed off and the edges will be fastened back to the inside wall, allowing for a tight and complete wrapping of the rough opening.

Interestingly, none of the other tear-downs or new building sites have started, meaning that only one building is currently under construction. That’s rather unusual for Lifestyle Properties, whose in-house construction crew typically works on 2 or 3 buildings at a time. There was a dirt pile near one of the future building sites, but it’s been that way for a while, so it’s likely being used as a staging area. The limited construction suggests that the Lucentes may be falling behind their anticipated construction timeline, which generally calls for two or three buildings a year in order to stay on track.


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Poet’s Landing Phase II Construction Update, 9/2017

1 10 2017

It looks like the first units are coming onto the market. Conifer Realty has the application up for the first apartments, as do third-party websites like apartments.com. Oddly enough, the apartment.com listing says 16 3-bedroom, 16 2-bedroom and 16 1-bedroom units. This is incorrect. There are 8 3-bedroom, 16 2-bedroom, and 24 1-bedroom units. One can tell from sight alone because Conifer uses the same three building plans in all of its suburban apartment clusters. One design consists of eight 3-bedroom units, the second design is eight two-bedroom units, and the last design is eight one-bedroom units. For units on each floor, mirroring each other in layout. Keeps things simple and materials costs down.

Keeping with the blog-only nomenclature, buildings “A” and “B”, the two that are basically complete from the outside, are the one bedroom-units. “C”, “D” and “E”, which are receiving exterior lighting rigs, trim and architectural features like balconies and patios, are the 2-bedroom clusters. Building “F”, which is still at the housewrap stage and the building that is least furthest along, is the three-bedroom cluster. For proof, consider the building that was badly damaged in this summer’s fire – it was reported that 31 people were left homeless. That would most likely imply it was the three-bedroom design, which would have 24 bedrooms.

The general rule of thumb is one person for bedroom for basic planning purposes. Affordable housing family units, for whom these three-bedroom apartments are intended, may average more than that because of income guidelines, and that two adults or multiple children may share a bedroom. Likewise, on the other end of the scale, properties with empty nesters or more affluent owners/renters may have numbers average less than one person per bedroom due to guest bedrooms, or conversion of bedrooms to home offices or hobby rooms. Owner-occupied single family homes often fall in this category, where the typical home is three bedrooms, but the average owner-occupied household size is 2.5. There are a number of companies dedicated to studying the number of people likely to live in a unit based off its location, size and intended market, and applying those figures to calculations like the number of students expected to be added to a district, or the number of car trips generated.

Curbing has been laid, the parking lot is paved and striped, streetlamps are in place and the concrete sidewalk is being poured. The process to build sidewalks is pretty similar to the work for foundations – excavate the path, build the formwork to keep the concrete in place as it cures, lay down some steel rebar to provide additional strength to the concrete, pour, level and smooth, and run a finishing trowel to create an edge so that the concrete has an expansion joint to help expand and contract without cracking the sidewalk. The steel plugs are to keep the forms in place.

The building that was damaged by fire is under reconstruction. The east wing was destroyed by the flames and was torn down. The only thing being reused for those four units is the slab foundation. The four west wing units were salvageable, but they did need an extensive renovation. Damaged trim and siding sections will be replaced, and on the inside, drywall damaged by water has been removed and new sheets are being hung. It looks like some of the appliances were saved; peering through the windows, a refrigerator was sitting in the middle of the floor in an upstairs unit. Closer to the fire, it’s more of a gur renovation, with only portions of the exterior salvaged, while the inside is replaced from the stud walls out. Taking a guess for the typical construction length of units so far, the renovated and rebuilt units probably won’t be ready for tenants for another five to six months.

According to the advertisement on Conifer’s website, amenities and feature include

Dishwasher
Garbage disposal
Wall to wall carpeting
Patio or balcony available
Walk-in closets
Discounted cable package
Central air conditioning
Smart card laundry center
Fully equipped Fitness room
Computer lab
Clubhouse with great room
Controlled building access
Key fob hardware
Professional on-site management
24 hour maintenance
Ample parking
Beautifully landscaped grounds
Accessible for people with disabilities
Close to shopping, schools & medical facilities

1-bedroom units are 716 SF, 2-bedroom units are 950 SF, and 3-bedroom units are 1,150 SF. Lease are 12 months with a month’s rent as security deposit. Three units will be adapted for mobility-impaired residents, and a fourth unit will be adapted to individuals who are hearing or vision-impaired.

According to a filing with the state as part of the grant application, the gross rents (rent plus utilities) will range from $724 to $1,070 a month, to be occupied by households with incomes 50% to 60% of area median income.

2017 AMI in Tompkins County is $53,000 for a single person, and $60,500 for a two-person household, and $68,100 for a three-person household. Therefore, the income limits are $26,500-$31,800 for a single person, $30,250-$36,300 for a two-person household, and $34,050-$40,860 for a three-person household.

Conifer and contractor partner LeChase Construction will be delivering the $10.8 million project over the next few months, and that should wrap up Conifer’s Ithaca work for the time being. The programmatically similar Milton Meadows project in Lansing is being developed by a competitor, Cornerstone Group. The two firms’ Rochester headquarters are about six miles apart; their apartment projects are about twelve miles apart.


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Cornell Law School Renovation Update, 9/2017

30 09 2017

It appears the loggia has been enclosed at the Cornell law school. The fence is down, the landscaping is in place, and apart from some exterior finishing work, that portion of the renovation is complete. The new glazing works well with the collegiate Gothic architecture.

The new west stairwell has yet to be installed, with some plastic sheeting serving as an exterior membrane for the time being. With the old exterior wall removed, installation of the structural frame is likely to start soon, and it seems plausible that Welliver and Cornell would like to have the new stairwell closed up before winter comes. From the inside, it looks like some of the new office and academic space has been completed, while the southwest wing remains in the interior framing stage, with some metal wall studs visible through the hazy plastic sheet separating the construction area from the finished spaces.


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Cornell Veterinary School Expansion Construction Update, 9/2017

29 09 2017

After two years of updates, the vet school expansion is practically finished. The exterior finishes are complete, and the Flower-Sprecher library is stocked with bookcases and workstations. Final landscaping and interior finish work appears to be all that is left on the agenda. According to a construction update from the Vet School, the academic spaces officially opened for academic use on September 11th. The exterior landscaping will be finished by October 1st, and offices and labs will be fitted out from now through December. The interior atrium is certainly cavernous and imposing, and it’s a shame the doors were locked during this past weekend’s visit.

The veterinary complex has never been an especially attractive group of structures, and the expansion project, designed by Weiss/Manfredi of New York, manages to add a modern update without being ostentatious. The boost in class sizes will give more students (120 per class, vs the current 102) a chance at Cornell’s quality veterinary education, and the growth provides fringe economic benefits for the Ithaca area as well. The new lecture halls, tutorial and surgery areas will no doubt be put to good use educating students and serving the community at large.

If I want to mark one concerning note, and be the obnoxious discriminating alum at the same time, I could point out that it appears that what was once the #1 vet school in the country is no longer #1 – UC Davis, whose student population is nearly 25% larger, is the new gold standard. So I suppose alumni could take to arguing over where the vet school’s resources would be better used. But, I study puffy clouds and cow farts for a living, and vet school politics is a debate outside this blog’s scope.

While this is the last update for the expansion, the new $7 million, 12,000 SF Community Practice Service Building will continue to use the same tags and headings, since the projects, though separate, have always been included in the same update posts. At this time, general contractor G. M. Crisalli & Associates has completed the foundation and underground utilities, and is erecting the wood framing for the walls of the one-story building. It looks like the front entrance area uses structural steel framing as a canopy. Sections of plywood sheathing are also up, and it looks like they may be planning to use a form of housewrap. A bit surprised they didn’t spring for ZIP panels, but each barrier has its pros and cons.  Some interior stud walls have also been assembled. The front sidewalks have already been poured and the curbing extruded, which seems reasonable as heavy equipment enters and exits from the other side of the construction site. The new CPS Building, designed by local firm HOLT Architects, should be open by May 2018.

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New:


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The Maplewood Redevelopment, Part III: Site Photos

5 09 2017

The rough construction timeline for the Maplewood structures looks something like this: Apartment buildings B and C started construction first in the spring, and the first townhouses were scheduled to begin in May. All of the major apartment buildings are expected to start construction by the end of August, while the last of the townhouse strings will not begin build-out until January 2018. Roughly speaking, the ends of the project site have earlier starts than structures in the middle of the site, and the more traditional-looking townhouse units start construction before the more modern strings.

The timeline is likely slightly behind schedule. During the mid-August site visit, a worker said that five of the foundations had been completed, but it seems at least six should have been finished by that point. The reason given for the relatively slow progress has been the wet summer, which has interfered with certain parts of the construction. For example, concrete pouring and curing for the foundations becomes a lot more complicated with the presence of frequent downpours. Rainwater can damage the foundation during certain stages of the process by causing the new pour to become soft again, reducing its structural integrity. Depending on timing, extra precautions have to be taken, or even worse, if it’s a real washout of a day the pour simply can’t take place at all. Several construction days have been lost, and to pick up the slack, the project asked for and received approval to increase the workday from 8 AM – 6 PM, to 7 AM – 7 PM, with the town’s stipulation that the extra two hours keep work noise below 85 decibels.

The photos below come from three separate time periods – February, which was mostly just site prep and excavation for underground utilities, the continuation of utilities excavation and installation in April, and the readying of connections to those new utilities in August. The circular concrete structures seen in April and August are for underground electric utility junctions. Similar structures may be used for wastewater pipes and drainage pipes. The teal pipes are PVC sewer pipes, and the rectangular precast concrete sections are protective covers. New curbing is being installed along Mitchell. I don’t know what the ridged crescent-shaped orange structures are, but if a reader knows, feel free to chime in in the comments.

Above-ground, it looks like the masonry stairwells for apartment buildings B and C have been built as of August. The slots in the sides suggests structural steel frames. A trailer on-site belongs to Peppard & Sons Masonry of Lockwood, so they may be the pertinent sub-contractor. Foundation slabs can be seen, and wood forms have been prepared for future pours.

 

Pre-development site photos:

February 2017:

June 2017:

August 2017:


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Tompkins Financial Corporation HQ Construction Update, 8/2017

25 08 2017

At the new Tompkins Financial Headquarters under construction at 119 West Seneca Street downtown, it looks like most of the structural steel has been erected, and gypsum sheathing has been installed over the skeleton. The top (seventh) floor is set back slightly from the lower levels, and will use light colored aluminum metal panels on all sides except the front, which will use black brick and stone veneer. With the exception of the rear stairwell, the side and rear walls will be faced with a tan brick veneer on the lower floors.

Brick veneer can be tricky because it’s porous. Water can penetrate the brick and make its way to subsurface coatings, where moisture can do damage over time. As a result, builders have to use a water-resistive barrier (WRB) between the sheathing and the brick. This can be done a few different ways – with Simeon’s and DiBella’s, for example, they used a polyurethane spray foam.

In this case, it looks like there’s a bright blue-colored vapor barrier being applied over the sheathing, probably Carisle Coating and Waterproofing (CCW) 705 or similar. CCW-705 is a rubberized-asphalt adhesive laminated with a smooth, durable plastic film. Construction crews spray an adhesive (CAV-GRIP) onto the sheathing, and then roll out the air/water barrier sheets over the top, kinda like wallpaper. These unfurled sheets are then pressed over with a seam roller to ensure it’s firmly and completely applied to the building surface.  The edges of the sheets are then filled in with a liquid mastic, which is a putty-like waterproof filler and sealant. Once the surface is completely sealed by the barrier, tie plates are fastened with washers and screws, and the brick veneer is laid over the top, typically with a 2″ spacing for drainage and ventilation. It appears the brick may be underway on the western wall of the building, as shown in the first image below. Meanwhile, the bottom floor looks like a different sheathing material, some variety of Dow Thermax panels (fiberglass embedded in polyiso) from the looks of it.

Based on building elevations and girder brackets, the JPW Erectors crane located at the southeast corner of the site will eventually be replaced with the last steel sections for the building. The steel decking is in, and there’s ductwork for the HVAC rough-ins. Curious to see if they’ll have the building closed up before the first snow flies.

LeChase is the general contractor, and it looks like they have some union crews doing work on site – the Carpenters’ Union Local 277 and the IBEW (International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers) Local 241 have signage up, as do project team members JPW Erectors, Elwyn & Palmer (structural engineering), TWMLA Landscape Architects, and HOLT Architects.

 


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210 Hancock Construction Update, 8/2017

22 08 2017

210 Hancock is nearly complete from the outside. On the apartment buildings, the brick veneer has been attached over the Blueskin, as have most of the Alpolic aluminum pearls (dark-grey “charcoal”, off-white “pearl”, and intensely bright “EYL Yellow”). Early drawings also had lime green panels in the mix, but this was later deleted. The finalized elevation drawings suggests some more yellow panels will be attached between the ground-floor windows under the awning. In fact, it’s mostly the EYL yellow panels that have yet to be installed on Building “A” and Building “B”, the southernmost pair (and the first buildings shown in the parade of pics below). The northern buildings, which are built over a ground-floor garage, are partially faced with Barnes & Cone architectural masonry – upscale and arguably more attractive versions of concrete masonry units (CMUs).

The large expense currently being paneled on Building “D” (the northern end of the building string) will be more EYL Yellow, although this will be Morin corrugated metal panels, custom painted to match. The corrugated metal, which is used elsewhere (ex. top of building “B”) in blue-grey color, will add a little more visual interest to an otherwise featureless wall. According to the 210 Hancock website, occupancy is slated for September 1st. It looks like they have a one-bedroom available, which seems odd given the lottery, but the price tag suggests this one-bedroom is one of the moderate-income units (those with annual income in the $41,000 – $60,500 range). Offhand, 11 of the 54 units were designated moderate-income, in order to provide a mixed-income development. Similarly, the handicap-accessible three-bedroom townhouse (the one-story red one) is still for rent, but the other four rental townhomes are spoken for.

The townhouses are mostly finished, and marketing has started for the seven for-sale units. Three are already under contract. The cutoff for maximum annual income is 80% of Tompkins County’s area median income or less – $42,380 for a 1-person household, $48,400 for a 2-person household, $54,450 for a 3-person household, and so on. The wood lattice screening below the porches will be painted to match the trimboards, which come in three shades of Certainteed vinyl – “Natural Clay”, “Sandstone Beige” and “Flagstone”, or to the layman, dark tan, tan and light grey.

Outside of the building, the new lightpoles are in. RGL Inc. of Binghamton, a subcontractor for Lecesse, is laying down the new curbing and sidewalks, with road paving/striping, landscaping and the new playground to follow. For the record, the playground will be open to all neighborhood children regardless of whether their families live in the Hancock complex. As a plus, the play area connects directly with Conley Park without the need to cross any streets. Personal aside, in the affordable apartment complex I grew up in, June 25, 1997 was one of the most memorable days of my childhood because that was when they replaced a field dumpster pad with a playground — and I can remember how absolutely packed it was for weeks afterward.


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1001 North Aurora Street Construction Update, 8/2017

20 08 2017

This small infill project in Ithaca’s Fall Creek is just about done. Tenants have already moved into the four three-bedroom units, and it looks like all that’s left on the outside is grass seeding and a coat of paint. According to the guys working on the duplexes, the mismatch in the second floor LP SmartSide wood siding was because the store they bought them (think they said Home Depot offhand) from had ran out, so they just bought what was available with the intent of painting over it when they were ready. It looks like the first floor has been painted, so that’s a good sign. It is nice to see that, although they were threatened for deletion if expenses came too high, the side windows on the inward-facing walls of the units (east side of 202, west side of 206) were retained.

This is a small, unassuming project. It replaced an older single-family home with four units that fit in with the neighborhood. It’s a bump in density without garnering too much attention. To be candid, it’s probably the only feasible way to add density to Fall Creek – scout out the few vacant lots, or buildings with less historic or aesthetic value, and try to design something that fits in (the only other one I’m aware of is the Heritage Builders infill project on West Falls Street, but at this point it would need re-approval from the planning board).

The three guys out front said that once these are complete, they expect to start work on developer Stavros (Nick) Stavropoulos’ next project at 107 South Albany Street. That site has not changed much over the summer, all that is there at the moment is the fenced-off foundation of the old building. The 11-unit apartment building slated for that site is expected to be completed by summer 2018.

 


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209-215 Dryden Road Construction Update, 8/2017

19 08 2017

The Breazzano Center is occupied, so for practical purposes this project is complete. The interior and exterior finish work is wrapping up (interior moldings, some cosmetic exterior panels), and it looks like the new street seating, curbing and bike racks are in – the development team may hold off on plantings until next spring, depending on how well the project team thinks the new landscaping will grow in to its new environment, and by extension, its ability to withstand the winter months.

The interior is relatively dramatic for an office and academic building. There’s lots of natural light thanks to the glass curtain wall, the natural wood paneling gives it a warmer look, and the lighting underneath the staircases in the multistory atrium is a nice touch. If I have any interior critique, it’s that there’s so much transparent glass and bright light, it can feel a little disorienting, creating a feeling of space that makes the 76,000 SF building seem much larger than it is. Some of the breakout rooms and one of the tiered large-group classrooms are also included in the photos below.

The exterior is a big change of pace from the CMU-faced residential buildings (much of it from Jagat Sharma’s hand) that define much of Collegetown. The glass curtain wall is unique, for the time being. Personally, I’m not a big fan of the aluminum panels on the sides and rear, though I recognize the cost utility provided, and necessary protection of certain interior spaces like the broadcast studio on the fourth floor.

Speaking to some construction workers on-site (the same ones who kindly gestured me to go in and take a look), they were uncertain when construction would start on Novarr’s complementary 24-unit apartment building at 238 Linden Avenue next door. But a timeline from April suggests next month, with completion next summer. That sounds reasonable – finish with one building, transition immediately to the next. Work on Novarr’s 119-125 College Avenue townhouse project has yet to start either; it appears to be a makeshift parking lot for construction crews and company trucks.

Overall, it seems the recent work in this part of Collegetown and Ithaca is a net positive. With projects like the Breazzano, 238 Linden and Dryden South, within just a few years, a corner of Ithaca that once housed a few student-oriented businesses and mostly-rundown/vacant apartments will have been replaced with dozens of beds, office space for hundreds of Cornell staff, and classrooms for deep-pocketed students who visit for only a few weeks a year. Plus, it adds up to an additional $15 million or so in taxable property (and that’s accounting for the reduction as a result of the Tompkins County IDA PILOT agreement).  There’s a clear financial benefit to Collegetown business owners and to the city. Add an aesthetic bonus point for removing the power poles and shifting moving the electrical utilities underground.

The $15.9 million project will be 100% occupied by Cornell on a 50-year lease. Hayner Hoyt Corporation of Syracuse is the general contractor.

Before:

After:

 

The wording on these sheets conjures images of a stuffy, tense maître d’ addressing his staff.


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Schwartz Plaza Construction Update, 8/2017

18 08 2017

Cornell’s modest but useful renovation of Schwartz Plaza has made significant progress. Gone are the walls that kept the sunken plaza cloistered from passerby, and in its place are stone seats and durable granite setts, for what ideally serves as a visible, attractive public gathering space in Collegetown’s dense quarters. Ornamental grasses will be planted between the seats, and from the renders, it looks like recessed LED light poles will be added as well.

Wood benches will be installed on a granite base below the steel trusses of the far wall, and some of the stone seatings on the near/eastern side will be overlaid with wood benches as well. Hopefully the marble columns get a thorough cleaning; after a few decades, it could use a good scrub. New ornamental bushes and vines will be planted along the trusses and against the back wall of the sunken “forecourt”.

Originally, this was supposed to be done in time for classes, but that seems unlikely at this point. A September finish is likely a fair estimate.


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