Spring 2012 Construction Update – Cornell Edition

The new Food Sciences Building has completed a substantial amount of exterior work, although the glass facade has yet to be installed. The $105 million renovation is to be completely done in early 2014, with the new Dairy Bar sometime earlier than that.

Site prep is underway at Gates Hall (the new Computer Science building). The $60 million, 103,000 sq ft building is targeting a December 2013 completion date.

It’ll be a happy day when these plain beige boxes are removed. Unfortunately, the $51 million renovation of Warren Hall that necessitated their construction will not be complete until early 2015 (with the Dyson School portion complete by mid-2013 – and it annoys me to refer to the AEM Department as the Dyson School, as if the perceived pedigree was needed to remove themselves from the stigma of CALS).

Not the most telling image, but Rice and Fernow Halls are currently in the middle of their renovations.

This Bradfield-based photo of Fernow shows the partially-subterranean classroom being built on the east side of the building.

Spring 2012 Construction Update

I’m disappointed, and I’m not disappointed. I can’t be at Slope Day itself because of a morning meeting (and to seal my fate that day, I’m having new tires put on my car). On the bright side, I did get a chance last weekend to go to a Cornell alumni reception for my major, and the traffic, one could assume, was a lot better than it would be with thousands of young alumni driving back to the area. I took the downtime between alumni events as an opportunity to do some construction photo updating.

As nice as it would’ve been to report on some downtown construction, all the sites approved or of buildings “underway” appeared to be dormant from the outside – if they’ve started anything, it might be interior demolition, but there wasn’t any demolition equipment at Seneca Way or Breckinridge Place (which, as I have now discovered, is scheduled for May 15th); the latter had a tarp poster, shown above, but that was about it. As kinda expected, significant work has yet to start at the Holiday Inn, Hotel Ithaca and Cayuga Green II.

That being said, it’s not like there was no progress at all in the area. The Argos Inn is nearing completion of its renovation.

Comparably, construction in Collegetown has been rapid. Here, 309 Eddy is undergoing facade installation, and looks on track for an August completion date.

The progress at Collegetown Terrace has been nothing short of astounding. The following photos try to convey a sense of the size and scope of the construction, but I feel they fail to do so. By Ithaca standards, this project is enormous.

Definitely not a fan of the giant concrete pedestal.Here’s to hoping it gets landscaped into obscurity.

The Ithaca College Boathouse nears completion on Inlet Island.

So, this one I only came around by chance, as I was going out with old friends for dinner. Apart from them thinking I’m nuts for taking photo of a building under construction, I’d say this was a pleasant surprise. The building is Magnolia House, a 14-person women’s homeless shelter.

The Coal Yard Apartments Phase II is virtually complete. The 4-story building holds 25 apartments.

The Vine Street Cottages development continues, with the model unit currently the only building under construction. The project includes 19 houses and 10 townhomes.

Seeing as my computer is lagging substantially with the uploading of all these photos, I think I’ll cut myself some slack and upload the Cornell project photos in a later entry next week.

This Old House

In the years that I’ve written this blog, I have written many articles highlighting the history of the physical assets in the region, but as I’ve exhausted many of my sources, and my access to new sources has become more difficult post-graduation, I’ve tended to focus on new development in Ithaca and the colleges. I’m not saying that it’s necessarily a bad thing, but there are occasions where the acknowledgment of historical assets must be given its due.

When I visited for my last photo tour back before New Year’s, I came across an aging Greek Revival house on the north end of downtown that was in a deplorable state. The red siding was tired, the Doric columns of the porch chipped with the paint worn off, the foundation crumbling and the windows damaged, with sills breaking off, and missing panes in some places. I resolved that before something happened to it (most likely the wrecking ball), I was determined to take a few photos and share the house before it becomes confined to the old yellowing photos of times long ago.

Officially, the house is 102 East Court Street. Historically, the house is the “Judd House“. The house was built in 1828 – the same year Ezra Cornell had arrived in the budding town of Ithaca, which has hardly twenty years old. An estimate establishes the house as having about 3,100 sq ft, 4 bedrooms and 1.5 bathrooms. Furthermore, the assessed value of the house is $190,000, although given its condition the land it sits on is probably worth more then the physical plant itself.

Property of Cornell University Library (A. D. White Collection)

A casual online search reveals a photo from Cornell’s A.D. White Collection, which shows the house in a much better state of affairs in what the vehicle to the left suggests is the 1920s. Furthering searching indicates the house was most likely designed by Ira Tillotson, the same architect for the Clinton House, which is a contemporary to this home. The once-stately residence was built for Capt. Charles Humphrey, a veteran of the War of 1812, on what was then the corner of Cayuga and Mill Street. The house and a long-removed barn were constructed for a cost of $2,105.56, which places the cost of construction likely somewhere in the upper six digits to $1 million-plus today. The name Judd House comes from long-time owners of the house in the 1900s, who apparently took great pains to keep the house in good shape. Sadly, that is not the case today.

In a perfect world, someone would come along and renovate and restore the venerable house to its former glory (perhaps INHS? A Cornell or IC faculty member with ambition)? It would be a shame to lose such an asset to Ithaca’s history. However, the decay is advanced and renovation would be expensive, or may not even be viable given the precarious state of the foundation, which is continually harmed by the freezes and thaws of the Ithacan year. As time creeps forward and winters take their toll, the long life of this home may be coming to end.

A Snowy Ithaca Update

It’s a running joke that Ithaca is “centrally isolated”. Luckily for me, however, I grew up not too far north of Syracuse, so visiting my family for the holidays can also have “pay a visit to Ithaca to update my photo collection” somewhere on the itinerary.

Unfortunately, although I had the date planned well in-advance (I even wrote a list of places to visit so I wouldn’t miss any of my intended targets), it also happened to be one of the coldest and snowiest days yet of the upstate winter. The lake effect had set itself up in a large and fairly strong band south of Syracuse, enveloping a wide swath of land from about Ithaca up through Lafayette. With the passage of a cold front the night before, a brisk northwest wind kicked up, turning a snow day into a windy and snowy day, with near-whiteouts on the interstate.  Combine that with puddles from the heavy rain of the previous evening freezing over, and the driving was a bit of a harrowing experience. At least the old days of practicing controlled skids in a parking lot came in handy. Anyways, the weather slacked off after lunch and I was able to get some photos.

The BJ’s in Lansing (just north of the mall) is near completion. I did not notice any senior homes being built when I visited.

One of the housing projects nearby, Ivar Jonson’s Heights of Lansing. 6 more units of the 80 unit project are under construction in the background. I took photos of some of the Lansing suburban sprawl, but I figured no one would know the difference between a cul-de-sac of McMansions here vs. any other city. I’ll save the photo for another entry that could better use it.

Not much happening with the Ithaca Gun site. The site is cleared, but no construction has taken place. According to an article in the Ithaca Journal, the project is supposed to finish clean-up this year, and the developer plans to finish clean before starting any redevelopment. So probably no construction until 2013.

The site of the Breckenridge Place project. The Women’s Community Building’s days are numbered. According to a very recent Ithaca Times piece, demolition will occur starting in March.

Rendering Courtesy fo Hart Hotels

 

The Holiday Inn has begun the initial phases of proposal with the planning board. The plan calls for the low-rise portion, shown here, to be demolished, with a new conference area and a few more rooms attached to the mid-rise tower of 10 floors. The new hotel would be built at this street corner. I don’t have many faults with the design, except that the east wall looks cheap. Like 1960′s pre-fabricated cheap.

The Cayuga Green Condos site awaits construction. The project is currently unfunded (and therefore stalled), but with a reorganization and a ground floor tenant secured, the developers hope to secure funds and start construction by next summer.

It seems I’ll have a plentiful supply of “before” images. This is the Hotel Ithaca site. I’m willing to venture this project is much like the Cayuga Condos – tenant secured (Gemstone Hotels), but no funding yet in place as a result of the tight loan market for new projects. Hopefully, we’ll hear positive news in 2012.

Hm. I’m sure things will be much more interesting one year from now. Here’s the Seneca Way Apartments site. The renovation of the Argos Inn (turning a dilapidated house into a LEED-certified boutique hotel) continues in the background. The Seneca Way project will begin demolition of the old Challenge Industries building this spring, and be built on a (slow if steady) 18-24 month time frame.

Moving towards Collegetown, it was hard to fully capture the sheer size and scale of the Collegetown Terrace. Simply put, it’s massive. The house in the background to the left is the Williams House; the project extends further up the street beyond that. In contrast to Seneca Way, the time frame here is brisk – phase one, consisting of 12 of the 16 new buildings, is expected to be completed by August 2012. The other two phases are expected to be completed in 2013 through early 2014.

I did some mental math – the rental market will see Novarr’s 600 beds come online in the next couple of years, which might be around 5% of the total market. That’s quite an impact, most likely to be felt by the student-oriented apartment complexes furthest from campus.

The apartment building under construction at 309 Eddy. Look for a completion date around late summer 2012.

The site of the “Collegetown Crossings” project, formally known as 307 College Avenue. The project is back on the agenda as a sketch proposal, but I’m yet uncertain as to whether it keeps the form of a 6-story 60-unit building with a distinct lack of parking, or if the proposal has been modified.

EDIT 1/23/12: The above rendering (from the Sun, courtesy of the City of Ithaca) is the latest design of the project. The project, if granted approval, will be home to a Greenstar Co-Op Grocery branch. The building would be complete by 2014.

Phase II of the Coal Yard Apartments project off Maple Avenue. The 4-story, 25-unit project looks to be heading towards a spring 2012 completion date.

The site for the Vine Street Cottages project has been cleared. Construction of the model house should be complete by the spring. The 29-unit project (19 homes and 10  townhouses) effectively redevelops the eastern edge of the city (Belle Sherman).

Homecoming Construction Update

I came. I saw. I took photos. Note that all the photos can be enlarged by clicking on the image.

Milstein Hall – The building so nice I visited it twice (and by nice, I mean it’s “nice”, but not “great”, and hard to believe it cost $55 million). During the second visit on Saturday evening, a group of about ten skateboarders converged on the white humps and concrete curves. I’m going to guess it will only be a matter of time before that gets banned if it hasn’t been already.

The Human Ecology Building. The woman at the info desk offered up a “scavenger hunt” assignment, but I was short on time.

The Food Science Building (Stocking Hall Addition/Reconstruction). From my favorite Bradfield perch.

Prefabs on the Ag Quad. Sad face.

The Johnson Museum Addition

The Physical Sciences Building

309 Eddy Street. When they say “opening soon”, they mean next summer. I also have a photo of the Collegetown Terrace site from a distance, but I could see was a fenced-off area that was largely cleared out.

Exploring Milstein Hall

So, fortunately for me, I’m not the only person out there who has an interest in Cornell construction projects. By good fortune, I happened to receive a series of emails from a newly minted Cornell graduate, “BB”, who took the time and opportunity to explore the nearly complete Milstein Hall and pass along some photos to this blog. For that I am thankful, as my trips to Ithaca have become fewer and further between. While I am glad for the photos, I’m still going to push the token disclaimers that I do not encourage or condone the exploration of unfinished buildings, due to a safety risk and legal concerns with trespassing. Also, while he is kind enough to share the photos here, they are his property, with all associated rights and privileges. I would encourage those that want to use his photos to contact him directly.

For those who wish they could answer nature’s call while on a spaceship…

They’re not even stalls. They’re more like bathroom pods.

I’m looking at this photo, and immediately, “The Imperial March” pops into my head.

Springtime Construction Update

Long story short, for the first time since about New Year’s, I was able to visit Ithaca this past weekend. Went for a national initiation for the fraternal alma mater and stayed for the day.

Milstein Hall continues towards its late 2011 completion date.

The new Human Ecology Building nears completion.

The Brian Nevin Welcome Center for the Cornell Plantations is open and ready to receive visitors.

Demolition work continues on Stocking Hall’s “new wing”, to make way for the new Food Sciences building.

Concrete pouring is well underway for the Johnson Museum addition.

The site of Gates Hall, looking southeast.

Oh Cornell. Even if you drove me nuts while I was in Ithaca, I do miss you a little bit. Partly because I have to look at this everyday:

Good thing my office is windowless.

Photographic Revisions

So, one of the things I’m proud of on this blog is that about ninety percent of the photos used are my own work, either “stock” images that I had taken before I graduated, or one of the few images I’ve taken while visiting as an alum. Still, one of the things that always bothered me was that a good portion of my north campus fraternity photos were blurred. This happened for a perfectly good reason – the images were taken on my old digital camera in the summer of 2008. These images were taken close to sunset on a cloudy day, so there was a lack of light, and I had to adjust the settings to compensate. Unfortunately, this meant a longer exposure time, and if my hands shifted at all, the photo would have a “fuzzy” appearance. This is what happened to most of those photos.

So, while visiting friends as part of a 700-mile car trip around the New Year’s holiday, I did an overnight stay with a few of them that have remained in Ithaca (for grad school and work). Having a little free time as I first arrived into town on the afternoon of the 29th, I decided to rectify this issue once and for all. The images are included below.

Phi Delta Theta

Alpha Xi Delta…and what appears to be an early-1980s Pontiac Bonneville. I thought the only models of that car left would be in museums or junk yards.

Pi Kappa Phi

Beta Theta Pi

Sigma Delta Tau. I think that is the exact same Jeep from my photo two and half years ago. Housemother’s? Also, I couldn’t tell whether or not that was new construction in progress off of the rear of the old structure.

Alpha Chi Omega

Tau Kappa Epsilon

Tau Epsilon Phi

Acacia

Alpha Gamma Rho

Kappa Kappa Gamma

Alpha Epsilon Pi

Delta Chi

Alpha Zeta

Phi Kappa Tau

A Look Inside the Physical Sciences Building

I’ll write more substantial posts in the near future. In the meanwhile, here’s some photos I took recently on a trip back to Cornell’s campus (the joy of living only a few hours away is that weekend trips are feasible – for the record, if you asked me last year where I was going, it was to a school out in the Mountain West…but that was before their funding was cut. The next best solution just happened to be in the Northeast).

So, anyways, the work is virtually complete, with part of the building opened for light use, but the whole building is still not yet fully accessible.  As if that’s ever stopped me before.

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This mock-up, some empty carrels and a couple of bare desks are all that is left of the Physical Sciences Library in Clark Hall. I noticed one of the pillars an eulogy tot he library that Munier Salem had written in the Sun on March 26, 2009, yellowed but encased in a simple black picture frame. I thought it was a nice gesture to the library that once was. Although I opted to not take a photo of the column, here’s a link to its online version.

Insert your name here…for about $35 million. Could be you…

Leaving the oxidized copper lampposts was a nice touch.

Homecoming Construction Photos

If I free up enough time between proctoring exams, I might write something more substantial. Until then, he are the physical highlights of Homecoming weekend.

The 197,000 sq ft Physical Sciences Building is nearly complete, with a soft opening planned for next month. Although still fenced, the landscaping is nearly completed. The glass isn’t as clear as the old renderings suggested, but otherwise it’s pretty faithful to the sketches.

Regarding work on Milstein Hall, a taste of what to come was shown with the installation of a small amount of glass on the northwest corner. Slightly greenish-blue in hue, which to me was slightly unexpected but not something I feel strongly about (I imagined a bluish tint if any at all). The 43,000 sq ft building is set to be complete by this time next year.

The Johnson’s addition is mostly underground, but some of the concrete work will build out to an above ground complimentary structure to the main building. It would appear that work has advanced quite a ways, with the rebar on the left indicating more pouring is yet to come for the east side of the 16,000 sq ft addition.

MVR North continues construction, though externally it hasn’t made too much progress in the past few months. The stone facade on the parking garage has been finished and work has been done on the exterior stairwells. The 87,000 sq ft building is set to be complete by the end of the winter.