206 Taughannock Boulevard Construction Update, 12/2014

30 12 2014

Okay, I’ll be completely honest – I don’t know what’s going in here. I don’t know what the mix of uses is, or many residential units there are. Here’s what I do know.

206 Taughannock was until earlier this year the site of the Unfinished Furniture Store (otherwise called the “Real Wood Furniture Store“) owned and operated by the Zaharis family. From the county records, the building itself is a 9,156 sq ft structure originally used for retail and warehouse space and dated to sometime in the 1970s. The store closed in April when its owners retired, and a building permit shown in a ground-floor window was issued in July to the Zaharises. I ran this past IB’s Jason on Twitter, and his guess was about as good as mine; residential units on top and maybe some of the bottom, with a reduced retail space. Photos of the store before renovation can be seen here at Ithaca Builds – the Lehigh Valley House next door is being renovated by its owner (Tim Ciaschi) into 6 condos and ground-floor commercial space. With the 323 Taughannock project approved just up the road, Inlet Island has been seeing increased interest from both current owners and prospective developers. Perhaps the biggest loss is the removal of a rather attractive mural from the front of the structure.

The work itself looks like a complete gutting of the original two-story building, with new windows punched into the walls and sedate exterior (fiber cement?) siding attached to the more complete exterior sections.

I reached out to the owners but have yet to hear a reply; if anyone has some info to share, feel free to reply to this post or send an email. These projects are the most fun for me, because they go without fanfare, but are just as important as any other project of equal size; they lie in wait for discovery and publication.

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EcoVillage Construction Update, 12/2014

29 12 2014

Heading over to West Hill, construction continues slowly but steadily on EcoVillage’s 4-story Common House/apartment building as part of its third neighborhood, TREE (Third Residential Ecovillage Experience, following its first two, FROG and SONG).  I can’t seem to find any specific values for the number of bedrooms in the apartment building, but there are 15 units ranging from studios to 3-bedrooms. However, using a little math and deduction, a rough estimate can be established. EcoVillage claims 160 residents in its first two neighborhoods, which have 30 units each (total 60), and they expect 240 residents when the 40-unit TREE neighborhood is complete. That gives 80 residents in 40 units, of which 25 of those units are houses. Houses tend to have more occupants than apartments (2.1/house vs. 1.7/apartment from the 2010 county census), so I think 25-30 residents is a fair estimate for the apartment building.

Interior work is underway and all the windows and doors are fitted into place. Exterior finishes and balconies have yet to be installed. The houses are all complete and occupied. Construction is being handled by a local firm, AquaZephyr, which received an award from the U.S. Dept. of Energy for a “zero energy ready” home constructed as part of TREE. The apartment building is scheduled to be finished this spring. Setbacks stemming from building code requirements pushed it away from its original fall 2014 completion date.

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Stone Quarry Construction Update, 12/2014

28 12 2014

Like it or not, construction is well underway at the site of the future Stone Quarry Apartments on South Hill’s Spencer Road. Foundation walls and pilings are visible at the site of the townhomes, and the cinder block wall for the elevator shaft and stairwell of the apartment building is clearly visible from the street. A closer inspection of the apartment building shows that a concrete slab foundation has been poured. I’m not sure if the white slabs in the last photo are some type of insulated concrete form like the Fox Blocks used at the Thurston Avenue Apartments earlier this year, or something else (Ithaca Builds’ Jason Henderson is far more knowledgeable about these types of things than I am).

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.

With a theoretical capacity of 82 residents (assuming one per bedroom), the project is the largest non-student oriented project currently under construction in the city (Lofts @ Six Mile has more units with 45, but with 3 studios, 21 1-bedroom, and 21 2-bedrooms, for a theoretical max of 66 residents). The apartments are expected to be completed in October 2015. The buildout is being handled by LeCesse Construction, a nationwide contractor with an office in suburban Rochester.

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Boiceville Cottages Update, 12/2014

23 12 2014

Work continues out in Caroline at the site of the Boiceville Cottages apartment complex. Passing through Ithaca’s southeastern commuter town on the 21st, it appeared that a large number of apartments were underway – three were undergoing interior work and exterior detailing, four were being framed, and the concrete slab foundations of at least nine more had been poured, their wooden forms still in place. Since my last visit in September, a maintenance garage and three more cottages have been completed. It would appear from my photos that about 25 units (15 cottages and 2 5-unit gatehouses) have been completed so far in 2014.

The Boiceville Cottages, built and managed by the Schickel family, are rather unusual as apartment complexes go. For one thing, there are the bright paint jobs, a sort of hallmark of the cottage units since the first set of 24 houses was built in 1996/97. The bright paint and the ornate woodwork have led to a nickname, “The Storybook Cottages“, which holds some weight, according to an article in Life in the Finger Lakes:

“Schickel said he was inspired to build his colorful cottages by a children’s book he read to his daughters almost 20 years ago. The book, Miss Rumphius, by Barbara Cooney, tells of a girl who, at her grandfather’s urging, travels to faraway lands seeking adventure. Later she moves to a cottage by the sea and works to make the world more beautiful by spreading seeds of blue and purple lupine. An illustration by the author shows the Lupine Lady’s house on a hill overlooking the sea. The small cottage is replete with finial and gingerbread. Seeing that illustration was the eureka! moment, Schickel recalled. “I said, ‘I’ve got to design something like this!’”

Since the initial 24 units were built, a further phase of 36 units was undertaken pre-recession, and in the past couple of years the town of Caroline signed off on the next phase, a group of 75 that would more than double the size of the complex. The cottages have been built out at a steady pace, and at completion of this current phase, 135 units will be present on the Boiceville property. 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 Boiceville complex may be the largest population center in the 3,300 person town.

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Ithaca Marriott Construction Update, 11/2014

7 12 2014

Officially, the downtown Ithaca Marriott is underway with site prep. Perhaps because it only just started, there was hardly anything to speak of on its site. An orange plastic construction fence blocks off the perimeter of the property, and there appear to be some pipes and concrete blocks on site. IPD had the parking lot blocked off, presumably to keep the lot closed to downtown patrons, and to use Green Street to meet their monthly ticket quota.

Although multiple sources indicate a Spring 2017 completion, the sign attached to the front of the site displays Spring 2016 as the completion and opening period. Binghamton-based William H. Lane Inc. was selected as contractor for the project, and opened an Ithaca office to oversee the operation. The $32 million, 10-story, 160-room hotel was designed by Cooper Carry Architecture and is being developed by Urgo Hotels out of Bethesda, Maryland. Urgo’s nearest other hotels are the Whiteface Lodge in the Adirondacks, and several in the NYC area, and Ithaca is well outside their normal scope. I suppose the Marriott could be used as an example of how Ithaca is attracting the attention of out-of-town investors and developers.

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This project really has had quite the drawn-out process, originally proposed as the Hotel Ithaca back in 2008. At that point, it was a 9-story, 102-room hotel with a cost of $17 million, to be developed by Rimland Development and operated by boutique firm Gemstone Hotels. Well, a lot happened along the way. The project was approved, the recession hit, the project stalled due to an inability to get financing, the cost kept going up from $17 million to $25 million to $27 million, and the number of rooms went from 102 to 125 to 140. Then the Marriott version came into play in 2012 with a $19 million price tag, it was approved, it too failed to get financing, and went back to the board with a value-engineered design for the now $32 million project. With money from Ensemble Investments, the project has been able to launch. There have been three separate designs with ballooning price tags. To actually have something underway is a welcome denouement to this saga.

The Marriott is one of only several hotels planned for Ithaca, with the new 123-room Canopy a couple blocks away intending to start construction shortly, and 76-room and 37-room hotels for Elmira Road. With high room rates and low vacancy rates, the market is expected to comfortably absorb at least two of those. All of them might cause an older suburban hotel to be closed.

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Lofts @ Six Mile Creek (Cayuga Place) Update, 11/2014

5 12 2014

As much as I hate to entertain the currently-fashionable use of prepositions in project names, and the “@” symbol to make it modern and hip, that is the official name for what was the condo portion of Cayuga Green. More notably, the project website describes these as apartments rather than condos as initially planned. Apartment projects are easier to get financing for since it’s generally easier to find renters vs. buyers, but given some of the discussion about the need for owner-occupied units that has come up lately (the Old Library redevelopment comes to mind), this is a mild disappointment.

The 7-story, 45-unit, 49,244 GSF apartment building topped out on October 2nd. The concrete floors were poured and the balcony pads were craned into place and secured throughout the fall. Peering into the building from the parking garage, some steel wall frames have been erected on the upper floors, while rough interior work seems to be underway on the lower floors. The plastic sheathing is to break the winter winds and keep the space above freezing.

Developer Bloomfield/Schon + Partners planned to release leasing/pricing details last month, but I haven’t heard anything yet. Completion for the project is set for late Spring 2015, which according to their facebook, is a little later than intended due to material supply delays created by the rough November weather (curse you, polar jet stream). If the last photo is any indicator, the upper-floor units are going to have some fantastic northeast views.

As noted before, this project makes the completion of 15 years of planning and construction. At 45 apartment units, It’s also one of the largest non-student-related projects slated for a 2015 completion – the 35-unit Stone Quarry Apartments and the 21-unit 323 Taughannock are also pegged for 2015 completions.

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Belle Sherman Cottages Construction Update, 11/2014

4 12 2014

Over in Belle Sherman, work continues on its namesake housing development, the 29-unit Belle Sherman Cottages. From a glance, some site clearing might be taking place for the first set of five townhouses (lots 25-29), which are aiming for an April 2015 completion. Several homes are in various stages of construction, with some still wrapped in breathable plastic, and others undergoing final exterior and interior work. Since September, lot 18 (Craftsman Bungalow), lot 15 (Craftsman Farmhouse), lot 10 (Craftsman Farmhouse) and lot 3 (Craftsman Farmhouse) were completed or are nearly completed, while lot 17 (Victorian Farmhouse) and lot 5 (Classic Bungalow) are underway. That’s six houses in less than three months. Carina Construction and Agora Home and Development more than outdid my September estimate of 1-2 more homes before the end of the year.

For comparison’s sake, in December 2013, there were five complete houses and two more underway, and the model house was built all the way back in May 2012. Now the total number of homes built or being built is 14. The project had a great sales year and it shows. Speaking of sales, all houses except lot 9, a new design yet to be published, have been sold. All 5 units that comprise the first set of townhouses have sold as well. Marketing has not begun for the 5 units in the second set of townhouses, lots 20-24.

One of the unique features of this project is that unlike traditional on-site frame construction, these houses are assembled from modular units. The modular pieces are sourced from Simplex Homes in Scranton and trucked up to Ithaca for installation. Once the concrete block foundation has been assembled, the four modular pieces for each home are craned into place, and once the pieces are leveled with the rest of the structure, the adjoining walls and ceiling are secured with steel plates. Interior work goes on while siding, porches and other features are built onto the assembled house. This allows for a faster construction process and cuts down on finishing costs.

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Collegetown Construction Updates, 11/2014

3 12 2014

Next stop, Collegetown.

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Over at 140 College Avenue, framing is underway on a 3,800 sq ft, 12-bedroom addition to the historic John Snaith House. The project is designed by local architect Jason Demarest and developed by Po Family Realty, a smaller Collegetown landlord.

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This house at 205 College Avenue seems confused. Before the extremely vivid paint job and mix-and-match additions, it looked like this, and a photo from January 2014, with the paint but without the additions, is included below. I really don’t know what to make of it. I dunno how long the Lowers have been sitting on permits for this one, but I didn’t see anything go through the city boards.

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Cornell Construction Updates, 11/2014

2 12 2014

The best part about holiday photo tours is that students are few and parking is ample.

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I know this project has been done for a couple of months now, but I was unable to take photos until now. The $650,000, 1,700 sq ft project is essentially Cornell’s history engraved in stone benches and pavers (unfortunately covered by snow and ice here). I imagine it must be a nice spot to sit when not covered in snow.

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Far bigger is the continued construction for the future Klarman Hall, pushing onward to its December 2015 completion. Construction firm Welliver is plodding through the cold weather to undertake steel work, metal decking, and mechanical and electrical rough-in in the basement. The 33,250 sq ft building was designed by Koetter | Kim & Associates.


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The De-Evolution of the Purity Project

29 10 2014

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I figured that so much has happened with this one, that it merited its own post.

When the Purity Project was first proposed in November 2012, it was something of a surprise, and a welcome one. Developers Bruce and Heather Lane were proposing a five-story apartment building on the site, with purity on the ground-level. A mid-rise mixed-use building for the historically overlooked West End of the city. It seemed like win-win, and another sign of Ithaca’s burgeoning residential growth.

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Then came the first downgrade. The apartment tower was gone, and the reasons weren’t explicitly stated at the time. In its place was a small second-story office addition of 2,600 sq ft. A disappointment, certainly. With some reservations (discussed in a great write-up by Jason at Ithaca Builds), the project was approved last December. The first phase, which was a renovation Purity’s customer service area, opened in May.

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No we have the third version, which is another scaling back of the proposal (they use the term “value engineered”, which are curse words in my book). There are no additions; the letter from the project engineers say it would be better characterized as “a gut renovation”. According to their study, the soil on site, which is lake sediment, compresses very easily, and is so difficult to build on that just about any addition would be cost-prohibitive. The extent and severity of the soil issue only became apparent when detailed analysis was being conducted for the next phases. The soils/foundation issue was also a major factor in dooming the apartment tower.

The latest iteration renovates the vacated western portion of the building for about 3,834 sq ft of office space (called “Cascadilla Corner”), which they anticipate being held by a tenant with 18-23 employees, according to the parking study. As someone that once worked in a 4,000 sq ft office with 20 others, that sounds about right to me. I do have concerns given Ithaca’s generally-lackluster office market, but the space is small enough that it’ll probably be easier to fill than the large floorplates once proposed by Harold’s Square.

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Here are the latest renders. At least the renovated space will be nicer than the industrial warehouse’s present form.


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