ITHACA, N.Y.—Collegetown development is seemingly always bustling, and it’s hard to keep up.
For this installment of Ithaca-area construction updates, take a tour of what’s underway in and around Collegetown. For those who want another look at the projects underway on Cornell’s campus from earlier this week, just follow this link.
Table of Contents – Read on or click through to a specific project.
325 Dryden Road
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Red Door Rentals and AdBro Development (Greg Mezey and Chris Petrillose) appear to have opened the doors on their new Collegetown infill housing at the corner of Dryden Road and Elmwood Avenue. To be frank, it’s not a lot gained, given the heated debate engendered when it was under Planning Board review. A 10-bedroom apartment house and a duplex with two three-bedroom units came down to make way for a new seven-unit apartment building at 325 Dryden Road, and a new duplex at 320 Elmwood Avenue. Combined, the redeveloped site will have nine dwelling units with 26 bedrooms – so basically, it was a net gain of ten bedrooms.
The developers hired local architect Jason Demarest to design the project, as Demarest has a specialty with historically sympathetic designs. In order to gain approval, the massing and materials had to be something that could effectively make the transition from dense Collegetown to more suburban Belle Sherman. The exterior is designed with dormers, bump-outs, and other Victorian and Craftsman nods, as well as quality materials like stone and fiber cement board in a variety of colors. Lansing contractor Plumb, Level & Square (Joe Lovejoy) did a quality job building out the plans as intended.
Those materials and labor didn’t come cheap; construction costs came in north of $3 million. Advertisements for the project tout a gym, wi-fi, washer and dryer, fully furnished units, in-unit Smart TVs, and an on-site electric vehicle charging station behind 320 Elmwood. A 3-bedroom, 2-bath is going for $4,500/month online, electric and heat not included, and on-site parking for an additional fee. While only a marginal increase in total beds, the prices that brand new units command in a captive market like Collegetown’s are enough to justify the relatively small increase in occupancy.
The Gem (202 Linden Avenue)
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Another project that appears to be wrapping up is The Gem, at 202 Linden Avenue in inner Collegetown. From the outside, the only major components missing are the staircase from Linden Avenue and its awning, but non-structural components are often attached towards the very end of the construction process.
The Gem, designed by Ithaca’s HOLT Architects, replaces an older three-bedroom house with a 10-unit apartment building hosting 22 bedrooms. Rents range from $1,900/month for a 310 SF studio to $5,500/month for a 1,014 SF four-bedroom unit, with gem-themed names like “Sapphire,” “Diamond,” and “Topaz.” Even at those lofty price points, being on Cornell’s doorstep will make these an easy sell to deep-pocketed Cornellians. Units can come fully furnished, provide in-unit washer/dryer, and are dog- and cat-friendly. Tenants can also enjoy using gyms and community spaces provided at Visum’s other properties nearby.
Catherine Commons (210 College Avenue)
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The Ithaca Voice is providing a few extra photos on this project because of the sheer size of it. Catherine Commons stretches along two blocks on the west side of College Avenue, and is programmatically divided into two portions, “Catherine North” and Catherine South,” each consisting of three apartment buildings and totaling about 265,000 SF of space. The project is the work of longtime local real estate developers John Novarr and Phil Proujansky, who do business as the famously vague-sounding Integrated Acquisition and Development Corporation.
The buildings will contain approximately 360 residential units (with a net gain of 339 bedrooms versus the previous 11 apartment houses on-site), a 2,600 square-foot commercial space along College Avenue, a 1,600 square-foot private fitness center, and a small parking lot for Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance and service vehicles.
The project also includes streetscape improvements, several ADA-compliant plaza spaces, pedestrian amenities, and public bus stop infrastructure. The city of Ithaca granted approvals to the project in March 2022.
The buildout is phased, but not as a simple north/south split. Two of the three buildings of Catherine South are framed, sheathed, and being faced in aluminum panels and terra cotta in a variety of colors, with Building “3b” a variety of greens with red accents, and Building “3a” a combination of grey and mustard yellow with red accents. The color combos have changed a number of times, so it’s not quite clear what the other buildings will wear. The third building in Catherine South, the smaller Building “4,” is still undergoing foundation work.
Meanwhile, on the Catherine North site, Building “1” continues to build skyward along College Avenue, while Building “2a” is being framed and sheathed, and Building “2b” is just starting steel framing (2a/2b and 3a/3b present as separate buildings, but they’re connected by multi-story skyways).
The salmon-colored panels are DuPont ArmorWall, an all-in-one panelized, fire-rated sheathing and water-proofing system, made of rigid foam sandwiched between layers of magnesium oxide, and the window bump-outs and the smaller buildings are faced in a 3M air barrier over what appears to be more-typical gypsum panels — it appears the smaller and less-trafficked buildings use a less expensive sheathing system.
The marketing website boasts of community amenities such as a fitness center, high-speed internet, study lounges, bike storage, a package receiving room, and controlled (gated, essentially) access. Apartments will come furnished, and host a bevy of kitchen appliances, air conditioning, washer/dryer, granite countertops, and vinyl tile floors. Available apartments range from 310 SF studios at $2,000/month to three-bedroom units that clock in at 1,054 SF and cost about $1,700/bedroom.
To remind the audience, lenders are much more interested in Collegetown projects than most other Ithaca neighborhoods because it’s so much easier to find tenants willing to pay $5,000/unit in Collegetown than it would be elsewhere in the city. The return on investment in Collegetown is simply more stable and lucrative.
As with many Novarr/Proujansky developments, New Jersey-based ikon.5 is the project architect and Welliver is in charge of build-out. Local firm TWMLA is the landscape architect, and is working to blend the building’s enhanced pedestrian features with the recently completed College Avenue reconstruction project.
The William (108-110 College Avenue)
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With 325 Dryden complete, Red Door Rentals and AdBro Development have turned their attention to their next infill project, “The William” at 108-110 College Avenue. Similarly to its sister project, this project had a rather contentious review process and had to undergo a size reduction in order to obtain Site Plan Approval back in Feburary. It replaces two apartment houses with a 29-unit, 44-bedroom, four-story apartment building designed by architect Jason Demarest.
Plumb, Level & Square is handling the buildout of this project as well. The basement foundation slab has been poured and construction of the basement wall with Integrated Concrete Forms (ICFs) is underway. As you can see from the stack in the middle of the construction site, ICFs are dense blocks with steel reinforcing bars that interlock.
After they are fastened together, the concrete is poured in to provide the necessary strength and rigidity. ICFs tend to be more expensive, but are quicker to build and more energy-efficient. The square hole in the middle is the base of the elevator shaft.
A fairly bare-bones website for the project is online, showing a variety of studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom units, and not much else. Ads on Zillow show the units will go for $1,800-$2,150/bedroom, with occupancy in time for the Fall 2024 semester. The project is being financed with an $8 million loan from the Chemung Canal Trust Company.
What’s Coming Next
In Collegetown, there are a few projects that have tentative schedules but yet to begin construction. “The Ruby”, a 35-unit project by homebuilder Boris Simkin to be located 228 Dryden Road, is expected to start construction in the coming weeks. The city’s new $9 million fire station at 403 Elmwood Avenue will start construction in December, according to construction bid requests, and the site has been cleared of the previous pair of apartment houses that occupied the site.
Likewise, the existing houses at 109 and 111 Valentine Place have been taken down to make way for a new 25-unit, 40-bedroom apartment building by Novarr/Proujansky that was approved in May. That infill project is expected to start construction in the coming weeks. I have no updates on the 35-unit apartment building proposed for 121 Oak Avenue by Josh Lower, though it would need re-approval since the original approvals have now expired.