ITHACA, N.Y. – Demolition of the Chapter House’s fire-damaged walls is taking longer than expected because the owner had to apply for a certificate of appropriateness from the Ithaca Landmarks Preservation Council to approve demolition.
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The ILPC is scheduled to discuss the proposal today. For those that are interested in reading about how water and fire damage have structurally comprised the structure, the application bundle can be found here.
Apart from the usual applications like window and roof treatments, the ILPC is also set to begin discussion of 406 and 408 Stewart Avenue, where a new apartment building is likely to be built to replace the one totally destroyed by the Chapter House (and which I wrote about here on the Voice).
For those interested in attending, the meeting is at 5:30 PM in the 2nd floor conference room at Ithaca City Hall.
The Chapter House, a nearly century-old bar, was all but destroyed in a fire in April that also displaced dozens of students; a police investigation remains ongoing.
The future of the bar was unclear for months after the fire. But ownership confirmed for the first time in July that the Chapter House will be reborn in Collegetown at its historic location on Stewart Avenue.
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In unrelated development news, it looks like there’s a potential site being weighed for a new Collegetown fire station. In minutes from the Board of Fire Commissioners, the location is described as being towards Maple Avenue, on land that would either be donated or bought outright.
That would place it up by the Fairview Apartments and Cornell facilities, assuming it’s not further out in Ithaca town (services are shared if I remember right).
An unidentified consultant has been chosen to review the costs of selling the land in Inner Collegetown and building a new station vs. renovating the current 47 year-old property.
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