construction | Ithacating in Cornell Heights

Collegetown Terrace Construction Update, 3/2017

22 03 2017

From the outside, Collegetown Terrace’s third and final phase is nearly complete. Some cement panels and clapboards are still being attached at the ends and the south face, and the entry areas need to be finished out, but otherwise it looks like the exterior is mostly finished.

Peering through the windows as the lights clicked on, it looks like drywall has been hung in most of the units, and closet doors and cabinetry are or are being installed, meaning they’re pretty far along and that finishing work is all that’s left for some units (there are 344 units, so it could take a while to do them all). All in all, things look on track for the expected summer completion. Kudos to Welliver for keeping such a massive building on schedule.

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Tags: city of ithaca, collegetown, collegetown terrace, construction, Novarr-Mackesey, photos, student housing, welliver
Categories : collegetown, construction, ithaca, photos, student housing

602 West State Street Construction Update, 3/2017

21 03 2017

The new addition has risen out of the ground at Elmira Savings Bank’s new $1.7 million branch office at 602 West State Street. The cinder block shaft will host the elevator shaft/stairwell, and the steel framing is underway for the new 1600 SF north extension. The non-historic blue paint is being stripped from the bricks of the existing structure, and from the plastic on the roof, it looks like a new roof is being laid, probably EPDM (synthetic rubber) or something similar. The building’s insulation is being updated, and the plan is to have an all-electric HVAC system (heat pumps).

Although the initial press release called for March opening, June or July seems more likely. Elmira Savings Bank will occupy 3,300 SF on the first floor. The second floor, also about 3300 SF, will host for-rent office space. HOLT Architects is in charge of design, and Edger Enterprises is in charge of the buildout. Based off the signage, it looks like John Mills Electric (IBEW Union, Local 241) is doing the subcontracted electrical work.

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Tags: 602 west state street, commercial office buildings, construction, elmira savings bank, ithaca, photos, west end
Categories : construction, ithaca, photos

Ithaka Terraces Construction Update, 3/2017

20 03 2017

Over at the Ithaka Terraces located at 215-221 West Spencer Street, Building “A” is fully framed, sheathed, nearly all Low-E windows have been fitted and the roof has been shingled. Buildings “B” and “C” are still in the process of framing and sheathing. Building “D” might be excavated at this point, but all the snow made it impossible to tell.

Note that the condos use double-stud walls, meaning their are two sets of wood stud walls used in the exterior frame, parallel to each other but spaced apart by about 5 inches. That space is then filled with R39 densely-packed cellulose insulation. The result has its pros and cons. The cons are that it’s more expensive to build, and it reduces the interior space a little bit. The pro is that it’s very energy efficient, which comes in handy for a project trying to achieve net-zero energy use. Along with the low energy consumption and green features, the project will be powered by a solar array owned by the developer out in Caroline.

Since these buildings will have a stucco finish, and stucco tends to absorb moisture but ZIP sheathing does not, most building codes require a water-resistant barrier between the ZIP sheathing and the exterior stucco. This allows the wall to repel and drain off moisture without risking the integrity of the facade. In the photos below, the WRB is the would be the thin white coating going over the sheathing.

Formal marketing for the 12 units is expected to launch in a couple of months. 10 2-bedrooms and 2 3-bedroom units will be available, with prices ranging from $265,000-$390,000.

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Tags: 215-221 west spencer, condominiums, construction, construction (planned), general housing, infill, ithaca, ithaka terraces, photos, south hill
Categories : condominiums, construction, construction (planned), general housing, ithaca, photos

201 College Avenue Construction Update, 2/2017

2 03 2017

201 College Avenue is reaching for the sky – when these photos were taken about a week and half ago, the structural steel was as high as the third floor, so there’s still two more floors to be boxed out by the H-beams. Although only five floors, the mezzanine-approach to maximizing square footage means that the units on the third through fifth floors are quite tall, 16 feet from sub-floor to sub-floor, 70 feet for the whole building.

The basement level, which only occupies the west half of the building (the east half is slab-on-grade) has been fleshed out with reinforced concrete walls – the windows on the street corner will look into a gym and game room, while the two pocket windows on the northwest corner will look into the mechanical room. The blue boards on the concrete are rigid styrofoam panels used for insulation and moisture protection.

It looks like some wall framing is underway on the first floor for the three-bedroom units – those CMU walls face the stairwell, and the exterior walls of the building itself. The interior unit walls will likely be a more typical lightweight steel frame.

There’s been some documentation floating around that suggests an early working name for 201 College Avenue was “The Heustis Lofts”, Heustis (sometimes Huestis) Street being the original name of College Avenue. However, it doesn’t seem the moniker was officially adopted.

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Tags: 201 college avenue, collegetown, construction, construction (planned), ithaca, photos, student housing, visum development
Categories : collegetown, construction, construction (planned), ithaca, photos, student housing

209-215 Dryden Road Construction Update, 2/2017

1 03 2017

Admittedly, when the entire building is sealed up in opaque plastic covers, it makes for a less-than-interesting construction update. The plywood doors are for the loading and unloading of materials via lifts, and apart from those, there isn’t much to break up the monotony of white plastic sheets. Note that the access doors are not the same as the elevator shaft, which is located about midway along the west wall next to 205 Dryden/Dryden South.

However, it does look like some exterior facade work is starting to get underway. Brown and grey metal panels are beginning to be installed on the building’s rear face – this is the side that will have the least amount of glass, as occupants won’t have much to see if developer John Novarr moves forward with his plans for townhomes on the double-lot of a house that came down to allow a construction staging area for the Breazzano Center. With the new home to the Executive MBA expected to open up this Spring, Novarr can proceed with options for that double-lot. 238 Linden is zoned CR-4, four floors with no required parking. The proposed townhouses could provide a visual transition between the 80-foot Breazzano and the 2.5 story houses that comprise most of the housing stock on this block of Linden Avenue, some of which are for pending sale.

In further detail, the rear facade windows are 1″ insulated glass with aluminum frames, and translucent insulated spandrel glass below the panes. The metal panels are insulated aluminum and are installed using a framing system – you can see the grey insulated panels with clips along the top edge of the panels. The plastic covers on the panels are to protect against scratches and scuffs prior to installation. ikon.5 sought to provide differentiation with mahogany brown panels on the south (Linden Avenue) side, with lighter salmon-peach panels planned for the north (Dryden Road). The west and east sides will be a little bit of of both. The first floor the street facing sides, and the atrium will be glass curtain walls. The dark panels are intended “to differentiate upper from lower and facilitate a relationship with the smaller scale of adjacent buildings,” per the application. Some of the later documents show a lighter shade of gray for the south side of the top floors, but to be frank, I am uncertain what is accurate.

Note that the fourth floor’s back side will have few windows because that is where the 1,990 SF video production studio will be located, and this requires a controlled-light environment. Presumably, with the green room and studio rooms, the intent is to have a comfortable and efficient interview space for live videos recorded for or streamed to students at remote campuses. The large flank of plywood panels at ground level is the service exit, with future loading dock and trash/recyclables enclosure.

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Tags: 209-215 Dryden Road, academic buildings, breazzano center, collegetown, construction, Cornell, ithaca, Novarr-Mackesey, photos
Categories : academic buildings, collegetown, construction, Cornell, ithaca, photos

Village Solars Construction Update, 2/2017

27 02 2017

The Village Solars have made progress on their latest pair of apartment buildings. Building “I” has made more progress on its exterior finishes, while “J” is fully framed, roofed and shingled. Both of these will likely open this spring.

It’s starting to get that point where the second stage of the Village Solars may be getting ready for review by the Lansing municipal boards. The last big phase, Phase 4 with Building “K”, “L” and “M”,is likely to get underway this year for a completion in 2018, and phase 2A, the mixed-use Building “F”, has been something of a question mark for exact timing. That will finish out the initial 206 market-rate units, which range from studios to three bedrooms.

There’s an early site plan floating around showing a potential buildout second stage expansion, and although it’s outdated, it gives an idea of the general layout of later phases. Most of the later buildings would be built to the east of the initial phases, as infill between existing apartments. The total number of units in the second expansion was initially about 136 units, but given the recent trend of breaking up larger units into smaller studio units to satisfy market demand, the number is likely to be higher when formal plans are submitted.

Right now, they seem to be about the only large-scale solution to Lansing’s development quandry – the first phase uses natural gas, but with the assistance of green advocacy group Sustainable Tompkins, the later phases have been built to utilize all-electric services with air-sourced heat pumps. This led to new utilities layouts, and the merging of “G” and “H” into one building.

According to an Ithaca Times article from last March, for a 12-unit building at the site (construction cost $2 million), the upfront cost increase was $50,000-$60,000, an increase of 2.5-3%. This is balanced out by the 30-year savings on energy costs for the building ($40,000-$80,000), and a premium on the monthly rents of about $50. Units go for $1050-$1650/month, depending on size and location. Six of the Daikin heat pump units can be seen in the third photo from top.

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Tags: construction, construction (planned), general housing, lansing, photos, village solars
Categories : construction, construction (planned), general housing, photos, Tompkins County

St. Catherine of Siena Parish Center Construction Update, 2/2017

25 02 2017

For practical purposes, this project is basically complete. The exterior work is nearly finished for the new building, and deconstruction work has started on the old 1960s parish center (notice how the stone veneer has been stripped). It looks like the contractor (Edger Enterprises of Elmira was the GC, but the trailer on-site is for large-scale contractor Rycon) doing the exterior panels is using form boards to prop up the metal panels, which is odd since they were using metal rails underneath. The decorative windows within the stonework of the west facade are a nice touch. Enjoy your new parish center, folks.

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Tags: construction, northeast ithaca, photos, religious structures, st catherine of siena, town of ithaca
Categories : construction, ithaca, photos

Poet’s Landing Phase II Construction Update, 2/2017

23 02 2017

Poet’s Landing is moving along. Framing for the first eight-unit building is underway; the slab foundation has been poured for two more. The other four buildings in the 48-unit project will come along as the weather warms up – it’s possible that LeChase may have the sites cleared forms ready for the rest of the foundation pours, but they may be buried under the snow (this was the first place I visited last Saturday morning, so the unseasonable heat had yet to do its melting magic).

According to an article published just yesterday, Boston Capital has bought the Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTCs) awarded to Conifer Realty to help finance the project. The Boston-based real estate investment firm paid $7.6 million. Boston Capital can apply those credits to the taxes on its holdings, and Conifer gets the money it needs to pay for hard and soft development costs (which total $10.8 million, the rest coming from federal/state grants and equity). Boston Capital is a frequent partner of Conifer, having bought their LIHTCs many times in the past, including those awarded to the 72-unit first phase of Poet’s Landing that opened a few years ago.

Quoting Housingfinance.com, which also had the first actual render of the project shown above:

“Located on 10 acres, Poets Landing II will feature 16 one-bedroom, 24 two-bedroom, and eight three-bedroom units in six two-story buildings. Units will include central heating and air conditioning, dishwashers, patios/balconies, and storage. Residents at Poets Landing II will have access to the community amenities at Poets Landing I, which feature a leasing office, a great room, a computer workstation, a laundry center, and a playground. The apartments will be available to families earning 60% or less of the area median income.”

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Tags: affordable housing, conifer llc, construction, construction (planned), dryden, news, photos, poet's landing
Categories : affordable housing, construction, construction (planned), photos, Tompkins County

902 Dryden Road Construction Update, 2/2017

22 02 2017

Visum Development’s townhouse project at 902 Dryden Road in Varna is coming along. The 8 new townhouses are divided up into three building sections – 3-unit section “A”, closest to Fall Creek; 3-unit section “B”, closer to Dryden Road, and 2-unit section “C”, which has a shared wall with the existing two-unit house.

“B” appears to be the furthest along – fully framed (wood frame), roofed, sheathed with ZIP panels, and windows have been fitted. “A” is undergoing framing of its second floor, and “C” is waiting for its foundation to be poured, with forms in place and underground utilities routed and capped.

Visum’s Facebook page says 32 new beds, which is half-right; the eight new townhouse units will have 26 bedrooms. The other six bedrooms come from the existing two-family, which will be renovated. So it depends on one’s definition of “new”. The final product has eight 3-bedroom, 2 bath units and two 4-bedroom, 2 bath units.

While Visum and Modern Living Rentals are different entities with partial ownership lap, MLR handles all of the renting and property management for Visum. The four-bedrooms are renting for $2400/month, and the 3-bedrooms for $1,500-$1,950/month. Quoting the ad:

“Brand new construction in late 2016, has all the amenities needed! Brand new EVERYTHING, stainless steel appliances, granite counter tops, kitchen complete with a dishwasher! Great sized rooms with ample closet space, all custom tiles bathroom as well! Washer and dryer IN unit!”

Varna has lower premiums on land, taxes and somewhat lower development costs, and those are all savings to the developer. But because it’s not a captive market like Collegetown, or as desirable as Fall Creek, the rents are lower. In short, Varna has lower development costs and also lower revenue. In this case the project team feels those two overarching factors balance out, and the townhouses are able to provide a comfortable return on investment.

All units have August 1st as the move-in date. STREAM Collaborative is the architect, Bella Faccia Construction is the general contractor, and Emery Construction of McGraw is doing the framing. More information on the project can be found here.

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Tags: 902 dryden, construction, construction (planned), dryden, general housing, photos, varna
Categories : construction, construction (planned), general housing, photos, Tompkins County

Hotel Ithaca Construction Update, 2/2017

21 02 2017

The to-do list for the $13.8 million Hotel Ithaca “modernization” is drawing short as it nears its May completion date. All the DensGlass fireproof fiberglass mat gypsum sheathing is in place and the edges of the panels are closed up with liquid flashing. On top of the sheathing are metal clips to which the exterior panels are mounted. The stone veneer on the first floor is mostly finished. Many, but not all of the balcony doors, windows and AC units have been fitted. Details like balcony railings will be installed towards the end of exterior work. On the inside of the building, it’s a good bet that the rough-ins are complete, insulation and drywall is probably in place and close to being completed, with crews moving onto things like subfloors/underlayment, painting, and installation of room fixtures such as sinks and bathtubs. The rest of the AC units will likely go in after the subfloors are installed.

Some Hotel Ithaca job postings are advertising 94 new rooms, but unless there were some last minute changes, the number on file is 90. Also worth noting, the contractor, Buffalo-based Krog Corp., and its team of subcontractors have done a fairly good job of staying on Hart Hotels’ schedule – the SPR doc from two years ago called for an April 2017 opening.

More background info on the Hotel Ithaca project can be found here, and by using the “Hotel Ithaca” tag one can backtrack through the bimonthly progress reports.