130 East Clinton Goes Even More Boxy

Not much in the way of new and exciting to mention as of late – the last planning board meeting focuses on projects already covered here and on Ithaca Builds (Harold’s Square, The Purity Project, the Thurston Ave. Apts and Klarman Hall), and the town cancelled its regularly scheduled meeting, which is what happens when no one has anything that needs to go to the boards. Thankfully (from this perspective anyway) it is construction season, so much work is underway around-and-abouts.

One detail work noting and sharing is a redesign for the 130 East Clinton project, designed by Sharma architects on behalf of  steretoypical one-percenter Jason Fane and his real estate company. No longer does it have hipped roofs.

Apparently, the architects decided to go with the “box of boxes” look, with a little bright color on the extensions for a little character. The design before was traditional and rather bland. Now it’s more modern but still fairly bland. But it’s density in a growing downtown, so I’m not complaining.

The EcoVillage

Although I take a lot of jabs at “hippies”, the reason I never made it to Ecovillage before now had less to do with any personal stance and more to do with the fact it was just out of my way. Rachel Carson Way lies about a mile and a half westward of Inlet Island, nestled in the hills opposite from Cornell. This means that when I past through, it’s farthest out of my way, so time often being a priority, it always sat on the bucket list. Finally, I made the conscious effort to take a trip up on my last photo tour.

Ecovillage runs on the concept of co-housing, which in many ways runs close to most people’s idea of a commune (and mentally, I still find myself referring to it as a commune). There are optional shared dinners, a community-based work system, and of course, being in tune with the natural environment. Hence, solar arrays, housing designed to minimize energy use, foods grown on the property,  and so forth. Ecovillage isn’t unique, not even in Tompkins County (White Hawk in Danby is a smaller but similar concept). But it is probably one of the best known developments of its kind.

Ecovillage began planning in 1992-1993, when stakeholders purchased a former farm with the intent of launching an eco-friendly community.  The first neighborhood, FROG (First Resident Group), began construction in 1995 and was completed two years later. The second community, SONG (Second Neighborhood Group), received site plan approval in 2001, and was built in three phases over five years. Each of these neighborhoods has 30 units with a community center. The community also has a few other bells and whistles, like a passive bus shelter, a root cellar, carports and a berry farm. The pre-Ecovillage farmhouse and barn are now a separate property holding an antique shop and the City Lights B&B.

Ecovillage is well underway with its third neighborhood, TREE. At 40 units, TREE is slightly larger than the first two neighborhoods. Construction is definitely underway, and the majority of the community should be complete before the end of the year. Also worth a quick note, a 900 sq ft “Gourd Workshop” was under construction when I passed through. More additions, like an education center and a roadside farm stand, are in the works.

If you don’t want to be a creeper like me, Ecovillage opens itself up for a free public tour at 3 PM on the first Saturday of each month. That way, you can avoid being like me, trying to take photos when kids keep wandering in front of them, and having that awkward realization that you look like a child predator.

The Storybook Cottages

Several months ago, my best friend landed his dream job in Ithaca. Within the day, he was looking for places to live. I being his roommate, and trying to be as discreet as possible given my borderline-unhealthy interest in Ithaca real estate, was more than happy to listen in and offer advice.

One of the places he checked out was The Boiceville Cottages (I’ve always assumed this is pronounced like “Boy-ss”, like the Boyce Thompson Institute on Cornell’s campus).  As multi-unit housing goes, they’re quite unusual. In general, housing is set up in single-unit cottages, clustered in groups of three. More recently, a few three-unit buildings, ans a church-like meeting house have been erected. Perhaps the most obvious detail – the colors. It’s like someone looked at a bright cheery children’s storybook and went to town.  Apparently, such tales were at least part of the inpsiration for their appearance, with the intricate eaves and vivid paintjobs.

The project is a little out of the way, about a mile south of the Caroline town hall and Route 79. So it took me a little while to swing out for a visit, and see them firsthand (my friend settled in Eastern Heights. Boo). This development further caught my attention because of the expansion underway. The Boiceville Cottages development was first initiated in 1996, and from what I can tell, it took about ten years to build the first 24 units.  Around 2007, a second phase was initiated, with 36 units. As of last year, this phase is complete (so, they definitely picked up the pace on construction…). Recently, they were granted approval for the construction of 75 more units, doubling the size of the complex.

When I finally made it out that way a few weeks ago, I was going around taking photos, when an older gentleman in a pickup stopped and asked if I could be helped. Generally, I’m extremely cautious when I go on photo tours – on previous occasions, both Ithaca and elsewhere, I’ve been threatened with the law and with violence, so I regard every interaction where I have a camera in my hands with extreme prudence.

The gentleman turned out to be the builder/developer, Bruno Schickel. About a month earlier, I had asked if there were any renderings or site plans online (the answer at the time was “only what’s on the website”; the link above is a site plan from a town review of the project). So I wasn’t a complete stranger. We chatted politely for a couple minutes, I told him how I thought he had a unique and creative development. He invited me to check out a display unit (which due toa long to-do list, I politely declined). All in all, I’m glad I did not get chased off the property, and my thanks to Mr. Schickel for  tolerating this random guy taking photos of his property.

An Ever-Expanding Ithaca Apartment Hunt

So, this post relies on a question originally posed by “Steve” on the welcome page:

I wonder if you can comment on the number of new apartments being built in Ithaca from a historical perspective? It seems like there are many coming online but I don’t have a long enough perspective.

As a matter of fact, I had obtained this info several months ago for reference, from a report given to the DIA by the Danter Company regarding the Ithaca housing market’s trends, needs and projections. But I had never made much use of that data until now. Even to the casual observer, there has been an uptick in construction around and about the Ithaca area as of late. As the metro has expanded a little over 5% (~5,500 people) in the past decade, some growth is to be expected. The Ithaca market (mostly defined as Ithaca city/town with some parts of Lansing) is believed to be capable of absorbing about 1,350 units over the next five years, 25% owner-occupied (most likely condos) and 75% rental units.

As of April 2011, there were 4,793 units in 75 developments (5 others with 270 units of subsidized housing are excluded from analysis). 49% of all those units are occupied by, no surprise, students at IC or Cornell. Borrowing a table from the report itself shows the number of multi-unit projects built within Ithaca proper, broken down into separate time periods.

So, adding up the 2000s gives 654 units 14 projects. This is a substantial increase from the 454 units built in the 1990s, but somewhat less than the 824 units in the 1980s, and less than half of the 1,604 units built in the 1970s. For the curious, the project built in 2009 was INHS’s Cedar Creek on the west side of the city. West Hill accounts for over half of the new multi-unit housing built in the 2000s, with Overlook at West Hill (128 units, 2006), Linderman Creek (128 units in 2 phases, 2000/2004) Cayuga View (24 units, 2005) and Conifer Village (70 units, 2008). Collegetown also makes up a small portion, with projects like 407 College (25 units, 2006) and Coal Yard Apartments Phase I (10 units, 2007).

Now, starting around the time this left off, there have been a number of major projects. Within the 2011-2016 time frame, here’s a sample of what’s completed/under construction/planned (I’m not going to link to each one for this entry, but the curious can make use of the search bar to pull up more info from other entries):

Collegetown Terrace (U/C; usually defined with “beds”; but in terms of units, the construction company in charge suggests 246 units, but that may just be one phase).

309 Eddy (completed, 24 units)

Coal Yard Apartment Phase II (completed, 25 units)

107 Cook (U/C, 4 units)

Breckinridge Place (U/C, 50 units)

Collegetown Crossing (in review, 60 units).

Thurston/Highland (in review, 36 units)

Seneca Way (U/C, 38 units)

619 West Seneca (U/C, 24 units)

Cayuga Green (approved, 39 units)

Fane Properties/ 100 E. Clinton (proposed, 36 units)

Harold Square (proposed, 60-70 units)

Cascadilla Landing (in review, 134 units)

Stone Quarry Apartments (in review, 35 units)

Conifer Phase II (72 units, senior housing, site prep)

Purity Ice Cream Redevelopment (proposed, 13-26 units)

Hawk’s Nest at Springwood (proposed, 50 units)

Cinema Drive (proposed, Lansing village south of 13, 39 units)

Lansing Reserve (proposed, on the north edge of what the Danter study calls “Ithaca” proper; 65 units)

College Crossings (U/C, 2 units)

So in the Ithaca area proper, in a span from 2011-2016, I’m estimating at least 1050 units in 20 projects. This assumes the townhomes with the Vine Street Cottages and Holochuck Homes projects are not rentals (and not included in this tally), excludes the several hundred units of housing planned in the town of Lansing (town center, Village Solars, etc.). Also, Ithaca Gun and its 45 units are not being included until that project leaves limbo.

So to answer Steve’s question- Ithaca is running well above average, and is on a pace not seen since the 1970s. Quite the uptick indeed.

News Tidbits 3/16/2012: What Lies Ahead for Cook Street

From Cornell Daily Sun. Image Updated 4/25/2012.

From the Ithaca City Planning Board:

Site Plan Review, Townhouse Apartments, 107 Cook St., Jason Demarest, Applicant for Owner, Dan Liguori. The applicant is proposing to construct two 2‐story townhouses with partially finished basement levels, four parking spaces, and asphalt‐paved access drive, walkways, and landscaping. The buildings are each 2,304 SF with 6,128 SF finished floor area, and contain two 3‐bedroom dwelling units, for a total of 4 new units with 12 new bedrooms. Proposed exterior finishes include brick, fiber cement board, cedar shakes, and stained wood lattice detailing. The project is in the R‐2b Zoning district. This is a Type I Action under the City of Ithaca Environmental Quality Review Ordinance and the State Environmental Quality Review Act (because the site is contiguous to a historic district) and is subject to environmental review.

If the address looks familiar, it should. The ca. 1912 house that stood on the property was engulfed in flames in May of last year, killing a Cornell student. One of the factors that was believed to have weighed in on the fire (which was accidental) was a confusing internal configuration due to subdivision of the original property from single-family into multiple tenants (there were eight units total, housing 13 students).

The first proposal for new development on the property was rejected for a couple of reasons – for not having a porch, and for having a mansard roof that wasn’t much of a mansard roof. The planning board has been fairly adamant that any new property on the street fits in with the current set of buildings. Well, that and fire safety. Old single-family houses that are subdivided are usually grandfathered from the sprinkler requirement as long as the alterations are strictly internal.  The new building would have to have a sprinkler system in order to be approved as a multi-tenant building.

So here we are on proposal two; townhouses, two units in each, 12 bedrooms, so two bedrooms less than the previous proposal and one less than the original building. Based off of description alone, with cedar shake and wood lattice detailing, it sounds like this structure is more in-line with the current style of buildings on Cook Street. I for one will be curious to see how it looks.

Arguably, from a purely financial standpoint, it would be a blunder to not redevelop the property – several new units close to Cornell would fetch a higher going price than neighboring houses, just for being newer and safer. Also, paying taxes on land as highly valued as Inner Collegetown’s probably dissuades the owner from sitting on the property. If one were planning on holding onto the parcel for the long-term, this could be a potentially lucrative setup for the small-scale owner/developer.

Taking a grander view, I wonder if projects like this could be a demonstration of what may lie ahead for some smaller Collegetown properties.  As large new developments open up (CTown Terrace, the Palms proposal, etc.), and assuming a static student population, the rates for older unrenovated buildings will go down and the owner’s revenue will take a hit. This will be further compounded on poorly-maintained properties; owners who suddenly have a building declared unfit by the city, and have to make costly repairs or rebuild (while being excoriated by local residents and officials).  Ii is possible that over the next decade or so, more projects that seek to build smaller but  student-specific properties will be proposed in the area. Quality of design and materials, of course, is up to the owner and requires the city’s approval. In summary, I see the redevelopment of 107 Cook as an illustration of what may lie ahead for Collegetown.

News Tidbits 3/6/12: From Orthodox Greek to Christian

…and by Orthodox Greek, I mean your normal Cornell Greek house. But I enjoy a little bit of word play.

I had come across a piece in my Cornell feed about a Christian house at Cornell on The Knoll called “Chesterton House”. I thought it was unusual that I had never heard of it, but I wrote it off as being some low key residential organization, like many at Cornell are (for example, Telluride, the Co-Ops and a few of the professional fraternities). I noticed its location was 115 The Knoll, which failed to ring a bell – I thought it was a rowers’ house or home to some of the Big Red Band. I’ve been vaguely aware that there were five houses on the Knoll, so there was bound to be some non-Greek component.

Then I glanced at their website – it’s Alpha Xi Delta’s old house. The one I profiled a couple years ago.

According to their website, the house is named for Gilbert Keith Chesterton, an early 20th century writer and “defender of the Christian faith”. The house holds 15 and is all-male, with the female equivalent being Sophia House at 315 Thurston, the house with a stucco finish and the extremely high-pitched tile roof. Apparently that house is being rented, so it is not under the organization’s possession. Now, the house on the Knoll is owned by Delta Phi Epsilon sorority, the last I checked (for the record, they’ve owned it since 1962). So I’m going to venture that this is a fairly recent endeavor, and a big step for an organization that was established only 12 years ago. Although a relatively young organization, it’s certainly garnering its share of alumni support.

I for one welcome them to establish themselves as one of the many opportunities afforded to students at Cornell. In my mind, I see it as something similar to the Jewish Living Center on West Campus. My one encouragement is that they adopt a policy similar to the Jewish Living Center and encourage freshmen to live with the other freshmen. I’ll willingly admit that as the brother of a fire-and-brimstone evangelist, I’ve been wary of religious groups in general (one tends to be that way when your sibling tells you you’re going to hell at every Thanksgiving dinner, for being a secular  Christian). But it’s also addressing a niche group at Cornell and offering more for some individual’s Cornell experience.

News Tidbits 8/22/11: Kappa Delta’s Swanky Renovation

It would be nice to live in Ithaca, but since I don’t, I increasingly find about construction projects from word-of-mouth rather than investigating on my own. In correspondence with “BB” from the Milstein Hall entry, he briefly mentioned that he’d take some photos of KD’s renovation project.

It piqued my curiosity because that was the first time I had ever heard about it. My first thought was that it may not have been an immense piece of work because I hadn’t seen anything in the planning board minutes from the city. But, I decided to quickly check online to see if there was anything special about this construction project.

I barely recognized the house.

Here’s the before photo, from my own archives (dated July 16, 2008).

Here’s an after image from a construction blog on their website:

It’s a pitifully small photo, but I’ll rectify that when I take a photo at Homecoming. Note that the west wall (right side) visible in the before image is now the front entrance.

The most substantial change is the construction of a generous wrap-around porch from Sisson Place onto Triphammer Road. The construction itself isn’t expanding the structure much, about 800 sq. ft on the first floor (based off what my strained eyes can pull from the elevations image at top). But the exterior reclad with an emphasis on a traditional appearance does wonders for what was arguably one of the more rundown-looking sorority houses on campus, creating a more graceful, less bunker-like presence. According to the webpage, the renovation cost is around $400,000.

Regarding the comment on the webpage about Triphammer Road being the original entrance location, I don’t have any verification of that, but it is quite likely. KD moved to its current location around 1923 and underwent several renovations/expansions in the years since.

In terms of exterior alteration, this is probably one of the most substantial changes since Sigma Pi built a new house in the mid-1990s. I must admit that the final result looks impressive.

News Tidbits 9/8/10: The Kappa Sig Dorm

Being interested in both the Greek System and in the university’s physical facilities, an article that details how Kappa Sigma’s house has been transformed into a small dorm is bound to catch my attention. Evwn better, it’s a very well-detailed article, and I found myself pleasantly surprised with the quality of work.

I guess being an alum just reminds me of how unaware of news I am now, as this was the first time I heard anything about this renovation and reopening. The reuse of the building as a dorm is actually the less surprising part. 112 Edgemoor and 14 South are former Greek houses that operate now as small dorms (Triangle, which closed in 1985, occupied 112 Edgemoor up to 1985 and Kappa Alpha lived in 14 South from 1957-1990). Cornell purchased the Kappa Sigma facility as part of the Cornell University Residential Plan of 1966. Reasonably, when Cornell owns a facility (as it does with at least 15 Greek houses, of which all but one (722 University Ave.) are fully occupied), it’s financially much more preferable to maintain the space as a working residential facility. This goes for private houses as well — the article mentions Pike is being rented out as a boarding house. This policy also has bearing on active chapters; boarding which is a popular option with residential fraternities with low membership numbers as a way to maintain the financial viability of a house. Interestingly enough, the university used Craigslist to advertise the spaces, and managed to fill all but one.

The article reports that the estimate for maintaining an empty fraternity house runs about $80,000 to $90,000 in a given year. The extremely general description for the expenditures is maitenence. More specifically, heating (pipes may burst in the winter if the facility isn’t adequately heated), insurance, security for a vacant facility, interior and exterior upkeep, and other utilities (which cost money to even have access to let alone use) come to mind.

I’m rather surprised at Cornell’s investment in renovating the facility. I dunno how much work had to be done, but if the Kappa Sigma alumni have already started the rechartering process, then it’s likely the university won’t be filling the facility for more than two years.  But, I don’t know much about the maitenence of university-owned Greek houses (my fraternal alma mater was privately owned by an alumni board). It just struck me as curious.

News Tidbits 8/1/09: Edelman Realty Puts Sorority House on the Market

http://aedelman.com/search.php?mls=129820&startat=20&price1=&price2=&area=&elemsch=&school_district=&new=1&luxury=

Realtor Description:
Own a piece of Cornell History. Delta Phi Epsilon Sorority is an arts & crafts style stone & stucco building on The Knoll. Built circa 1915 with up-to-date sprinkler, fire alarm & other safety systems. Compliant w/all inspection by the City and Fire Department. Living room, chapter room, paneled dining rm, commercial kitchen. 15 rooms for up to 25 occupants.There is an also a one bedroom two-story caretaker’s cottage with a separate driveway. Approximately 18 parking spaces+driveway to cottage.

The house’s list price is $795,000. Technically, the property has two units, the second being the small building in the second photo (both of these photos are from the listing).

Personally, I think my photo is more flattering.

Exploring West Campus

First off, let me say I do not support nor condone any illegal activity, especially for the purpose of information gathering. That being said, going into prohibited construction sites is a lot of fun if you’re careful where you step and you can avoid the workers leaving for the evening.

So, this started when a friend of mine who happened to figure out that I was the writer of this blog sent me a message asking if I could go through the new West Campus and take some photos. Knowing he wasn’t in Ithaca, I decided that I would be happy to oblige this time  (but I certainly won’t be making it a habit).

Token War Memorial shot.

First off, the War Memorial. These photos are actually from my fraternity photo tour last month. The War Memorial was constructed from 1926 to 1931. It honors the 264 Cornellians who were killed in action in World War I. However, it does not honor a 265th death, that of Hans Wagner 1912, who was killed in action while fighting for the Axis Powers [1].

Noyes and Hans Bethe dining hall have grass roofs. Cornell, take note to not follow IC’s folly and set off fireworks right next to a building with a grass roof; it just might catch fire.

Any makeshift fence can be scaled. But why bother when there’s a narrow space between it and the wall?

Base of the War Memorial steps, being renovated.

A new central plaza area between House 5 and Bethe.

House 5, south face

Don’t mind my shadow.

Curious horizontal window slits near the entrance of House 5.

Nameplate, unfinished for now.

House 5 Dining area, NW corner

north face, house 5

House 5 dining area interior, unfinished

Keeton House, north face

Noyes, from Keeton

A corner plaza next to Keeton. Psi Upsilon is in the back.

A plaza/planting area just outside of Keeton.

Keeton’s connective corridor.

A staircase at Keeton that leads under the corridor.

A large blank wall next to the previously mentioned staircase.

Note the coloration of the glass in the connective corridor.

Keeton’s south wing. Notice how the top floor has a different window pattern and uses different materials.

An interesting if not aesthetically pleasing entrance area for Keeton’s north wing.

Had to hide from construction workers by hiding behind the board next to the Penske truck.

The unfinished nameplate for Keeton.

Keeton’s balcony.

An architecturally interesting juxtaposition of Baker Tower, Becker House and the Johnson Museum.

Keeton’s lobby area

The dining area and an adjacent lounge in Keeton House.

A random hall of dorm rooms in Keeton.

***

Boldt Hall and Tower

ATO painted their house, it seems.

As for the photo request…consider it fulfilled.

[1]http://cornellsun.com/node/19107