Ithacating in Cornell Heights

Now for something that is out of the ground, though it’s a renovation rather than a new build. McPherson Builders is continuing their work on HOLT Architects‘ new headquarters at 619 West State Street. HOLT, which has been at its North Aurora Street location for 30 years, is looking to move into the renovated, net-zero energy structure this spring.

In a change-up from the norm, this post also comes with quotes. I had to chance to speak with HOLT Principal Quay Thompson and HOLT President Graham Gillespie with regards to the renovation project and the firm’s interest in the West End neighborhood. The interview was mostly for another piece about businesses growing in West End; that and the TM-PUD writeup from the last news tidbits were supposed to appear in the Voice this week, but then the Times’ Josh Brokaw ran a very similar writeup about Inlet Island as part of their feature series this week. Cue the grumpy face. Rather than look like a “me too” article, the pieces, which are finished and submitted, will now be published early next week.

One of the quotes I really liked but found hard to fit in the West End piece was Quay Thompson’s description of the work underway on 619 West State. I think it’s fair to include the full breadth of that quote here.

Q: “This new building is supposed to be a net-zero space, correct? And there’s space for other tenants?”

Quay Thompson: “We’re renovating it to be a net-zero structure, and there’s space for two additional tenants. Sustainability is a key feature, the energy we put in, we want to keep in the building.

The building envelope is critical. We’re increasing the thermal performance in the walls by adding interior insulation, we’re also redoing the roof to increase its thermal performance. These older buildings have a lot of thermal issues, even the foundation slab, it just draws heat right out, so we had to renovate the slab.

Mechanically, we’re adding photovoltaics and working with Taitem [Engineering] to maximize efficiency. We did a lot of energy modeling and performance modeling to determine out energy needs. We’re looking to be truly carbon-neutral. Mostly LED lights inside, daylighting controls, even the studio frontloads are scheduled. There is some behavioral change and a learning curve involved with things like lighting timers. We’re excited about the opportunity, put our money where our mouth is.”

HOLT, through an LLC, is paying for the renovation with an $897,500 loan from Tompkins Trust Company.

From this month:

From November 2015: