An Updated Exercise in Mapping

It’s been about a year and half since the first set of maps. For one thing, I felt that for the work that went in, I was unsatisfied with the result, which kept me from attempting a revision for a while. But, at this time, it would be high time to post a long-overdue update in map form.

The same rules apply as before: Under construction means demo/site prep/frames going up, Approved means the paperwork is okayed but physical startup has yet to commence, proposed means the project has yet to receive approval, and stale proposals refer to projects that may have been proposed or approved, but no action has been taken in the past several months.  So, starting with the heart of the city:

UNDER CONSTRUCTION:

1. Seneca Way – Which just held its official groundbreaking. 5 to 6 stories (it’s on a hill), 38 apartments and some office space, which will be rented by Warren Real Estate and the Park Foundation. Readers might recall that the Park Foundation, an NPO, floated the idea of renting space in the Cayuga Place project.

2. Breckinridge Place Apartments – a 50-unit, six-story project undertaken by INHS, the affordable housing group. The project is set for the first renters to move in in fall 2013.

3. The Holiday Inn Expansion – The low-rise two-story wings of the hotel are being demolished to make way for a 9-story tower with 115 hotel rooms. Now, I think offhand that I could count the gross increase in rooms on my fingers and toes, but the real important piece of this project is a small convention facility, sorely needed in Ithaca.

4. Iacovelli Apts., 619 W. Seneca – These should be in the final stages at this point. 3-stories, 24 units.

5. Aurora Street Dwelling Circle – An eco-friendly pocket neighborhood with 4 new units. Construction began in July.

APPROVED

1. Cayuga Green – After an extension on special financial abatements with the  city, this project has been virtually mandated to start construction by mid-2013, and I do believe the developer has obtained financing. The new building will offer 39 units and a small amount of commercial space.

2. Ithaca Marriott Hotel Downtown – Originally conceived as the Hotel Ithaca, the project underwent a significant revision, which require (and recently received) approvals. The project has 160 rooms, 10-stories, and is set to start construction no later than March on an 18-month time frame.

PROPOSED

1. Harold Square – A recently-proposed and massive project by Ithaca standards.  11 floors, with 126,000 sq ft of office space and 60-70 apartments. The project will likely be through several months of scrutiny before receiving approvals, with completion probably in the 2014/15 range.

2. Planned Parenthood, Ithaca – Undergoing review, the project seeks to build a new two-story building with 18,200 sq ft of space. EDIT: This one was just approved at the last meeting. But it would be a pain to update the map.

3.  Cascadilla Landing – Another massive project. I believe preliminary, but not final, approvals have been granted. The project seeks to beef up Ithaca’s waterfront substantially with 22 townhomes, 134 apartments, and about 36,000 sq ft of commercial space. Construction is expected shortly after approval, and will take place in phases over two years.

4. Stone Quarry Apartments – INHS’s newest large scale project, with 35 units, 19 in a three-story apartment building and 16 townhomes. The project is slated for 400 Spencer Street, a site currently utilized by Ithaca Taxi Dispatch.  The project has just started preliminary review, and financing is being arranged. Surprise, surprise, neighbors say they oppose the project, with traffic concerns, and one woman claiming “it would attract criminal activity to the area“. Apparently, a 24/7 taxi operation is much more preferable.

5. Yes, I am lazy enough that I have yet to write an entry on this. It’s in the queue. Three apartment buildings, three stories each and with 36 units total, proposed for the hilly 100 block of East Clinton, or just east of the police headquarters. The building will have wood siding, shingle roofing, and will likely look vaguely similar to the large apartment houses similar to those in Collegetown. The project is by Ithaca’s favorite all-for-one stereotypical capitalist land developer, Jason Fane, who owns the Cityview complex on the north side of the property. Cityview’s lot would share parking with the new buildings.

Turning to suburbia, as C’Town and Cornell will be a later entry, there’s a few things going on.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

1. 12 senior apartments, a byproduct of the approval process for the new BJ’s (black box).

2 and 3. Housing developments – Millcroft (31 lots with about one-third sold/built), and the Heights of Lansing (80 units, about 25% complete).

APPROVED

1. Off of Cinema Drive, a 39-unit, 3/4 story apartment building with two retail spaces.

STALE PROPOSAL

1. Lansing Reserve (65 units), caught up in the protests of angry residents, including this re-god-damn-diculous website. Complete with misleading aerial rendering. Here’s the correct one. Also, another outlandish claim:

“The daily traffic through our neighborhoods is predicted to increase to between 1500 and 2000 residential car trips…”

For 65 units of housing. Let’s do some math. If there’s one car per residence, that’s 23 car trips a day minimum. Hm. Seems a little high. Regardless of the bat-s**t insanity of the nimbys, the project is on hold while land-use studies are undertaken.

But hey, this is the village.  Right up Warren Road about a mile or so, the town is considering an 88-unit project, and an apartment project that would add 312 units to two complexes in that same area. The 312 apartments have preliminary approval, so it won’t be long now. And let’s not forget the town’s Town Center projects. So by all means, complain about the undesirables.