Bank Tower Renovation Update, 3/2019

23 03 2019

It looks like interior cabinetry, fixtures and trim are being installed in the renovated Bank Tower’s first floor. As readers may recall, the first and second floors of the building will serve as the new headquarters for CFCU credit union. According to the Fane Organization’s Bank Tower website, renovated office space on the upper levels became available for occupancy in December. It doesn’t look like the website was recently updated, but the Loopnet listing was, and the put they offices on Craigslist as well. Here’s the ad:

“Locate your office in the best space on the Ithaca Commons. Bank Tower Offices, at the intersection of E. State Street and N. Tioga Street. Office suites on floors 3 – 7.

Completely renovated, with energy efficient VRF HVAC throughout, new windows, all LED lighting, high speed internet, luxury marble bathrooms and break room on each floor in a two elevator building. Secure access and security cameras.

Conference rooms with large video displays available.

Floors 6 and 7 feature open floor plan promoting community and collaboration in the workplace.

Floors 4 and 5 utilize historic building features of tall ceilings, big windows and inter-suite door systems so your space can be as large or as small as you need.

Floor 3 is newly configured with the conference rooms, spacious offices, and lots of interior glass for a bright workplace.

Contact us today for your personal showing. Available March 1, 2019.”

Taking a guess here, the webpage hasn’t been updated in a little while. The Loopnet posting is more informative.

“Bank Tower Offices is a rectangular, seven-story building that is constructed in the Art Deco style. The main commercial building was built between 1932-1933, with three additions in 1965, 1974 and 1982. It is being completely renovated, with completion date of March, 2019. The first and second floors are being occupied by CFCU Credit Union, with floors 3 – 7 available for lease. Renovation features include energy efficient VRF HVAC throughout, new windows 3 – 7, all LED lighting, high speed internet, luxury marble bathrooms and break room on each floor in a two elevator building. Secure access and security cameras, conference rooms with large video displays. […]”

The ad then repeats the Craigslist post, which seems like a subtle nod to Loopnet being the place for serious commercial leasing opportunities, while Craigslist is where you go looking for used couches. The attachments on Loopnet show that all five of the upper levels are available, with spaces ranging from 225 SF to 20,000 SF. Internal doorways between office suites give some flexibility on the lower floors for an almost-modular office space approach to expand and contract as needed, while floors six and seven go with the more fashionable open office floorplan. The ads suggest that, if 20,000 SF is the max available, and there’s 37,151 SF of leasable space, then CFCU is taking 17,151 SF. Interior photos below are from the Loopnet post, and show a suite arrangement on the fifth floor and the open plan on the sixth floor. No price per SF is listed, but phone inquiries can be made with Fane’s management firm, Ithaca Renting.

The project website itself, which is a bit hard to find (www.banktoweroffices.us), shows updated renderings for break rooms, bathrooms and state-of-the-art conference space on the third floor. Renders for the new first floor interior and exterior signage/decor are included in this post. The 1970s addition on the north side appears to get a hanging living wall treatment. Doing a cross-comparison, the new windows and cleaned exterior do a nice job sprucing up the nearly 100 year-old building.

 





Upson Hall Construction Update, 9/2017

26 09 2017

Upson Hall’s renovation is complete. The building became fully re-occupied as of August 22nd, per the Cornell Daily Sun. It’s been a long time coming. Two phases, 27 months, $74.5 million invested. One supposes that staying cutting edge in engineering requires a certain investment in cutting-edge labs and equipment.

The interior is certainly impressive with its airy, industrial feel. The interior fit and finish appeared impressive, Cornell getting their money’s worth. However, on the outside the quality of Upson’s appearance is diminished somewhat by the puckered seams and slight imperfections of the aluminum panels on the stairwells/elevator cores.

To be totally honest, I was more a fan of the old Upson’s clean modernist lines. Certainly the interior needed work, but this just looks…gimmicky? I dunno how well it’ll age on the outside, but hopefully the inside will lend itself to creating exciting engineering feats and technological advances.

New York’s LTL Architects and engineering firm Thornton-Tomasetti were the primary architects and engineers for the project, assisted by the original architecture firm for the building, Perkins + Will. The landscaping, which will be finished at a later date, was designed by local firm TWMLA. The Pike Company served as the general contractor for the project.

Before (from 2008/2009):

After:





A Look Inside HOLT Architects’ New HQ

22 04 2016

Most of my photos are from the outside, so it’s pretty cool when I get a chance to inside.

HOLT moved into their new digs at 619 West State Street a few weeks ago, a few minutes’ drive away from their old location at 217 North Aurora Street (a building that used to be Ithaca College’s gym). First walking in, one of the first things that stood out was that there was little street noise coming in from West State, even though several large windows front the road; the secretary said that even she was surprised with how quiet it is.

I like that HOLT displayed not just their latest work, but also several older building models in their reception area. Among the projects on display were the Educational Opportunity in Center in Buffalo; the Peggy Ryan Williams Center at Ithaca College; the Roy H. Park Building downtown, and a campus setting I didn’t quite recognize. The Roy H. Park Building was done in the early 1990s, so the Strand Theatre was still standing when the model was produced.

The spaces are pretty wide open; it was explained that this was purposely done to make it easy to exchange ideas between staff, who are often split into groups according to the projects they’re working on. Some of the desks are sitting, others are standing-enabled. The principals have personal offices on the east side of the building, the left side of the first photo below. The southern space / rear section is a miniature shop area to assemble models of projects.

I did get a chance to speak with a few of the architects on staff while visiting; one was Tom Covell, a long-time architect who recently joined the company from Rochester’s SWBR. SWBR was involved in the Cornerstone proposal for the Old Library project, but Covell said he was not a part of that work. Another architect who was nice enough to take out some time to chat was Andrew Gil, who specializes in architectural design of lab spaces; this led me off on some tangent about my primary employer, who is a major stakeholder/tenant in plans for a new building, and all of our senior research staff are essentially like kids in a candy store, while the architect is like the babysitter whom the parents only gave so many dollars to work with. Andrew, if you read this, thanks for tolerating my babbling.

Briefly, a few younger staff also introduced themselves – one was from the West Coast, another went to school in the region, and the third immigrated to the United States. It was definitely a mix of background, which hopefully translates to a variety of ideas.

The building is designed to be net-zero – the energy that goes in is equal to the amount of energy the building produces, so on the balance it has no impact on the power grid. This includes automated lighting systems, solar panels, and roof and building envelope improvements among other things. More info about the green features and the construction progress can be found in the blog’s “HOLT Architects” entries here. More about HOLT and their interest in the West End of Ithaca on the Voice here.

For the sake of acknowledgement, there were a few of their latest projects on the tables; but that wasn’t the point of the visit. They’ll hit the blog pages when they’re ready.

A big, big thanks to HOLT’s Maria Livingston for the tour!

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