construction | Ithacating in Cornell Heights

Stone Quarry Apartments Construction Update, 6/2015

17 06 2015

Here’s another project that’s in the home stretch – INHS’s 35-unit Stone Quarry Apartments project on Spencer Road. On the outside, the buildings themselves are pretty much done. A small playground has been installed and the asphalt for the parking area has been laid. A few sidewalk slabs still need to be poured, light poles still need to be erected and the landscaping still needs to be finished out, but otherwise, this is very close to the final product.

A look at the interior of one of the townhome units (not included because the image also included my reflection in the glass) showed that the drywall has been hung, but carpeting and interior finishes are still on the to-do list. Tenants can expect to move in during September 2015.

As this project wraps up, INHS will still be carrying a full schedule for the near future – their townhouse project in East Ithaca, Greenways, will be starting construction shortly. And while Greenways builds out its three phases over the next few years, work will begin on 210 Hancock‘s 53 apartments at some time well into 2016 (assuming no big hangups occur).

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The Stone Quarry project consists of 16 two-story townhouses (2 rows, 8 each), and a 19-unit, 3-story apartment building on the northern third of the property. Specifically, the breakdown of unit sizes is follows:

16 three-bedroom Townhouses
2 three-bedroom Apartments
11 two-bedroom Apartments
6 one-bedroom Apartments

As with all projects by INHS, the units are targeted towards individuals with modest incomes, with rents of $375-$1250/month depending on unit size and resident income. While affordable housing is generally welcome and sorely needed, Stone Quarry had a number of complaints due to size, location and lingering environmental concerns.

The build-out is being handled by LeCesse Construction, a nationwide contractor with an office in suburban Rochester. The design is by local firms HOLT Architects and Trowbridge Wolf Michaels Landscape Architects.

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Tags: affordable housing, construction, inhs, ithaca, photos, south hill, stone quarry
Categories : construction, ithaca, news, photos

Belle Sherman Cottages Construction Update, 6/2015

16 06 2015

At the Belle Sherman Cottages project site, the first five townhouses (lots 25-29) have had their modular units delivered and craned into place. Waterproofing sheathing can be seen on some of the dormers where the “Autumn Red” and “Savannah Wicker” Certainteed clapboard siding has yet to be installed. and some of the front-facing garages still have unsheathed plywood showing, with rough garage openings. taking a guess, it looks like the work crews are working from north to south (29 to 25) on the two-bedroom townhomes.

The units have a slightly staggered elevation, with the units decreasing a few inches as the row progresses southward. The change in profile makes each unit a little more visually distinct.

A couple walking by as I was taking photos pointed out how curious it was that only the center unit, lot 27, has a rear deck. But, optional features are optional features; que sera sera.

Next to lots 25-29 are the lots for the second set of townhouses, 20-24. The foundation for those homes has been excavated, and at some point soon, the water will be pumped out, footers poured, and the CMU block foundations will be laid for the new units.

On the other side of the property, the last of the marketed homes is under construction. Lot 11 is a “Classic Farmhouse” with Autumn yellow siding and the usual white trim. The four Simplex modular units have been delivered and hoisted onto the foundation (Jason at Ithaca Builds offers a great rundown of the modular units here). Over the next few weeks, the house will be sided, the interiors will be finished out, and the porch and remaining trim will be attached.

The first set of townhomes should be ready for occupancy this summer, and the second set might be ready by August but that seems like a stretch; I’d wager that early fall is more likely. One more single-family house, lot 9, is due to be marketed and built at some point in the near future; the project will then be fully built out, about 3.5 years after the model house was built.

The Belle Sherman Cottages project on East Hill consists of 19 single-family detached homes and 10 townhouses, developed by Skaneateles-based Agora Development and built by local company Carina Construction.

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Tags: belle sherman cottages, construction, construction (planned), ithaca, news, photos
Categories : construction, construction (planned), ithaca, news, photos

Carey Building Construction Update, 6/2015

15 06 2015

At a quick stop at the Carey Building Friday before last, workers at the Carey Building site were busy preparing a utility duct line for the new Hilton Canopy Hotel next door, according to one gentleman I spoke with at the site. Building contractor LeChase Construction has completed the underpinning work on the Carey Building, strengthening the foundation to support the five-floor vertical addition. LeChase will also be handling the construction of the Canopy Hotel next door.

The Carey Building itself has sidewalk scaffolding up, and a section of the rear facade has been removed. I think that would be for the construction hoist, and the swing cab telescoping boom construction crane in the second photo is the one that’s being used for assembly of the structural steel. Quick disclaimer, if I’m wrong, please call me out. My day job of studying pollutants and puffy clouds isn’t helpful here.

I also had the good fortune to run into developer Frost Travis while having lunch, and he happily stated that steelwork would begin the week of June 8th (which is about two weeks behind schedule, but let’s not begrudge him given that whole issue with the building design that arose a couple months back).

So of course, swinging by to take updated photos was a must. One week later, there’s steel columns five stories high (the height of the addition), with steel crossbars for stability, and joining plates to secure the steel framing for the floors. My marginally-educated guess is that this is the frame for the elevator shaft, based off the floor plans.

The Carey Building addition will add a third floor and 4,200 sq ft to the Rev business incubator (nearly doubling it to 8,700 sq ft), and on floors 4-7, there will be 20 apartments. Floors 4 and 5 will have 16 studio apartment units that average only 400-500 sq ft, their small size enabling them to be rented at a lower price. The 4 units on floors 6 and 7 will be larger 2-bedroom units. The $4.1 million project is being developed by local firm Travis Hyde Companies.

Expect this project to finish sometime in the very late summer-early fall timeframe.

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Tags: carey building, construction, downtown ithaca, ithaca, photos, residential life
Categories : construction, ithaca, news

Ithaca Marriott Construction Update, 6/2015

14 06 2015

The pile driving work continues at the Marriott project site downtown. Quoting an anonymous source familiar with the project, about 10 more caissons are left to be piled, and grade beams are being built. Per wikipedia, a grade beam is a reinforced concrete beam that transmits the load from a bearing wall into spaced foundations such as pile caps or caissons; a grade beam spans the the space between the caissons, distributing the weight among the caissons and ensuring the hotel’s structural stability. In image three, you can see the pile driver at work drilling a caisson, using a rotary bore so that it can more easily penetrate deep into the soil. The expectation is that the project will begin to rise starting in just a couple weeks, and builds its way skyward over the course of the summer and fall.

On a side note, check out that new window inserted into the Rothschild Building. Much better than the blank brick wall that was previously there.

The $32 million, 10-story, 159-room hotel is slated for an opening in Q3 of 2016 (July-September). The hotel will include a fitness center, a restaurant with indoor and outdoor seating, and 3,000 sq ft of meeting space.

The hotel has been designed by Atlanta-based Cooper Carry Architecture and development is a joint venture of Urgo Hotels of Bethesda and Ensemble Hotel Partners, a division of Ensemble Investments. Urgo’s portfolio includes at least 32 other hotels totaling 4,500 hotel rooms. Interior design will be handled by Design Continuum, W.H. Lane of Binghamton is the general contractor, and Rimland Development contributed the land to the joint venture and is a partner. Long Island-based Rimland was the original firm that pitched the project in 2008 as the “Hotel Ithaca”, before the old Holiday Inn downtown went independent.

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Tags: construction, downtown ithaca, Hotel Ithaca / Zinck's project, hotels, ithaca, ithaca marriott
Categories : construction, hotels, ithaca, news, photos

Lofts at Six Mile Creek Construction Update, 6/2015

12 06 2015

It won’t be long now, this project is in the home stretch. The protective plastic wrap is off and the product is almost ready to hit the market. The work at the “Lofts@Six MileCreek” site is mostly interior finishing at this point. A few of the exterior panels/window glazing had yet to be finished in these photos from last Friday, but a glance at the project’s facebook page shows that the windows have been installed, but the panelling has yet to be hung. Some other exterior finishes, such as balcony railings, are only partially completed as of now. A formal opening by late summer seems likely, thus completing the last phase of a 15-year project.

Looking at the rental agreement, tenants are allowed to have pets (for a $500 refundable fee and a $50 monthly rent surcharge), no more than two tenants may share a bedroom, and income is expect to be three times rent. 12 month leases only, 1 month’s rent as a security deposit.

With rents ranging from $1,220/month and up, that means that the minimum a tenant can make and live in the building is $43,920/year. A top end 2-bedroom unit, at $2,655/month, requires $95,580/year. The three studios range from $1,220-$1,460/month, one-bedrooms from $2,160-$2,355/month, and two bedrooms from $2,095-$2,655/month. There’s no doubt these are premium prices, and as discussed in the last update on this project, that’s not necessarily a bad thing for everyone else.

The Lofts at Six Mile Creek project consists of a a 7-story, 49,244 square foot structure that will contain 45 rental apartment units: 3 studios, 21 1-bedroom and 21 2-bedroom units. The building is being developed by Bloomfield/Schon + Partners out of Cincinnati, and construction is being handled by Turnbull-Wahlert Construction, also based in Cincinnati.

Leasing is being handled by CSP Management, and interested readers can apply for an apartment here or call 607-277-6961 if they feel so inclined. Questions can be directed to info@IthacaLofts.com.

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Tags: construction, downtown ithaca, ithaca, lofts at six mile creek, photos, residential life
Categories : construction, ithaca, photos, residential life, urban planning

140 College Avenue Construction Update, 6/2015

11 06 2015

Just up the street from 114 Catherine and a couple blocks from 202 Eddy is 140 College Avenue, also known as the John Snaith House. Since last fall, work has been underway on a 3,800 sq ft, 12-bedroom addition to the 1874 structure.

John Snaith was an English builder, stone cutter and architect who came to Ithaca in 1869 to do work on Ezra Cornell’s Llenroc mansion (under construction at the time) and other buildings for the nascent university. Snaith lived in Ithaca for over a decade. He built the original Ithaca High School (destroyed by fire in 1912) and did work on the Sage Mansion, where he was fired by the ever-impatient Henry Sage.

After Snaith moved to Albany, the house was used as a boarding house, a B&B in the 1980s, and a private single-family home. The house was rented out to a landlady and her boarders when it was partially destroyed by fire in 1894. Snaith rebuilt the home shortly before his passing in 1896, but redesigned the top floor with mansard trusses and added dormer windows. Today, it’s student-oriented housing.

The addition is a sympathetic design approved by the Ithaca Landmarks Preservation Council (the house was designated a historic structure in 2011), separated from the original house by a glass “hyphen” connector. In the photos below, the exterior work is virtually complete, with the lap siding fully installed, as are all the windows and doors. Interior finishing is seemingly all that is left. This one should be ready for its first 12 occupants shortly. As someone who had reservations about the addition, I will admit that it came out nice.

The project is designed by local architect Jason Demarest and developed by Po Family Realty, a smaller Collegetown landlord.

None of the larger projects in Collegetown are underway just yet. Hopefully in the next few months we’ll see work start at 307 College (96 beds), 327 Eddy (64 beds) and 205 Dryden (40 beds), and Collegetown Terrace is expected to start construction of its 300+ bed phase III this year. A quick check of the neighborhood showed that construction has not yet started on a 6-bedroom duplex planned behind 424 Dryden.

Then of course, we have Novarr’s demolition work on the 200 Block of Dryden Avenue. Once demolition is complete, the site will remain empty until whatever he proposes is approved and financed.

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Tags: 140 college, collegetown, construction, construction (planned), ithaca, news
Categories : collegetown, construction, construction (planned), ithaca, news, residential life

114 Catherine Street Construction Update, 6/2015

10 06 2015

Workers have been busy at the site of 114 Catherine Street in Collegetown. On Friday, a flatbed truck was parked just off-site, delivering the roof gables for the 3-story, 17-bedroom apartment building. Framing for the structure is actively underway, with recently-created rough openings showing the position of the windows and doors in the new 3-unit structure.

The architect behind this project is local architectural firm Jagat Sharma, and he building is being developed by Ithacan Nick Lambrou of Lambrou Real Estate. Plans call for the replacement of a parking lot with a 3-story, 4,180 sq ft structure with a 5-bedroom apartment on the first floor and a 6-bedroom apartment on the second floor and on the third floor. Building loan documents filed with the county establish the construction costs to be $1.3 million.

If construction stays to schedule, the building should be completed in time for Cornell’s fall semester.

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Tags: 114 catherine, collegetown, construction, ithaca, photos, residential life
Categories : collegetown, construction, ithaca, residential life

707 East Seneca Street Construction Update, 6/2015

8 06 2015

In and near the Collegetown neighborhood, several smaller construction projects are currently underway. One of those is 707 East Seneca, an urban infill project in the East Hill Historic District. Since the project was located in a historic district, the design had to go through the Ithaca Landmarks Preservation Council for approval, along with getting approval from the planning board, and the zoning board for an area variance (the lot was too small). After informational and voting meetings by different boards throughout the fall and winter, all the approvals were granted.

The design of the 3-story building is intended to be compatible with the historic homes from the late 1800s and early 1900s that surround the site. 707 East Seneca was originally the playground area for the now-closed East Hill School, and the lot was given to the city in 1982. The property fell into disuse, and the playground into disrepair. The city voted to put the lot up for sale through the Ithaca Urban Renewal Agency (IURA) in summer 2014, and the vacant lot was sold for $130,000 last December. A building loan agreement filed with the county last Friday estimates the total “hard” construction cost for the building at $752,350. Hard construction costs leave out legal fees, permit fees, and other costs not directly related to construction.

When completed, the apartment building will have 6 units and 18 bedrooms. Four garage parking units will be located under the building and tucked into the hillside, in addition to five surface parking spaces. The building is expected to be completed before students return this August.

Note for the included renders, the black-and-white image with the small basement windows is the final design, but the colors are the same as the lead rendering.

In these photos taken last Friday, it appears that the building has been faced with plywood, topped out to its final storey and roofed. The exterior walls have been almost fully wrapped with Tyvek water barrier wrap. Some interior framing can be seen from the outside.

The design of the building is by Schickel Architecture of Ithaca, and the developer is Ithacan Todd Fox.

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Categories : collegetown, construction, ithaca, photos, residential life

Boiceville Cottages Construction Update, 5/2015

20 05 2015

With three months filed away since my last trip out to the Boiceville Cottages, it seems like a good time for an update.

The pace of construction has picked up with the onset of the warm half of the year. The stucco homes with pea green timber trim have been completed. Three homes that were sheathed and had only a few windows fitted in February have progressed have now been fully fitted, stucco has been applied, and an attractive canary yellow timber trim is being attached to the new homes. Four more homes (stucco with teal timber trim) have started since last February, and these are not as far along – some of the red waterproof sheathing is still visible while the exterior finishes are being applied. Three concrete slab foundations, outlined with blue waterproofing (the covering might be for cement board being used to protect the slab insulation) are ready for new house construction in the near future. Suffice it to say, given the amount of disturbed land nearby, more slabs and more homes are a likely bet as we press on towards summer. So far, there looks to be at least 17 units completed during this calendar year.

A couple more community features have also been added – a small wooden footbridge now crosses the neck of the pond, and a simple, modern looking bus stop shelter has been built near the meeting house.

Boiceville is in the midst of a 75-unit expansion, which will bring the number of units on the property to 135. Most of the units are 1 and 2-bedroom cottages, built in clusters of three, although a few “gatehouse” rowhouses offer studios and 3-bedroom units. The initial 24 units were built from 1996-97, with another 36 units built in the late 2000s.

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Tags: boiceville cottages, construction, construction (planned), photos, residential life, tompkins county
Categories : construction, construction (planned), photos, residential life, Tompkins County

Klarman Hall Construction Update, 5/2015

19 05 2015

Since the last update on Klarman Hall in February, the snow has melted and East Avenue has been reopened to all vehicular traffic. Construction firm Welliver has been pouring concrete on the upper floors and the structural steel has been erected. Concrete pre-cast has been installed on the atrium-facing portions of the top floor, with bright green glass-mat sheathing visible on some of the panels. Within these panels, the window cutouts are visible, and as seen in the last photo, windows have already been installed on the south block facing into what will be the atrium. Windows will be installed in the north block shortly. To hoist these panels into place, a telescopic crane is used.

Less visible to the outside observer, interior wall framing is underway on the upper levels, with utilities rough-in continuing, and some drywall installation underway in the more complete areas. Openings have been created in Goldwin Smith’s rotunda (where people will flow in and out of Klarman’s atrium), and the sub-slab (the concrete below the new floor) is being poured.

The long-term construction schedule calls for window glazing (exterior glass wall installation) and drywall to be complete by the end of June. The atrium skylight glazing will take place during the summer, the elevator will be installed by August, and the green roof will be prepared just as the fall semester kicks in. Klarman Hall will open its doors to the public in December if all goes to schedule.

The 33,250 sq ft building was designed by Koetter | Kim & Associates, and is named for billionaire hedge fund manager Seth Klarman ’79. The cost of the new building, which began construction in May 2013, is estimated at $61 million.