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Old Posted Nov 30, 2012, 2:24 AM
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I've been on a trip this week, but decided to use the hotel's computer today. Here's an interecting tidbit I found in the Ithaca Journal:


Architect John Snyder and owner Bruce Lane show a conceptual rendering of the building planned for Purity Ice Cream in an aerial view from above approximately Fulton Street looking east.

Ithaca's Purity building seeks expansion, new floors
Office, retail proposed along with expansion of iconic ice cream shop

7:32 PM, Nov 28, 2012
Written by
David Hill


ITHACA — The owners of Purity Ice Cream, the iconic purveyor of treats on Ithaca’s Northside, hope to build a four- or five-floor mix of apartments and offices along with an expansion and improvement of the existing store.

Bruce Lane, who owns the ice cream company with his wife, Heather, unveiled conceptual plans for the project Tuesday evening to the city Planning and Development Board. He was joined by Ithaca architect John Snyder.

Lane stressed there are no plans to close or move Purity, which has been in business in the general vicinity for decades. The present building dates from 1953. The interior and outdoor dining areas would be expanded, with parking improved, including some parking on property Lane owns nearby.

Many details are yet to be determined, but the addition would include 13 to 26 one- and two-bedroom units on the third and higher floors, Lane told the planning board. It also would have office space for rent, and an additional retail space for rent along Cascadilla Street.

The additions would largely be on top of the existing brick building and replace former ice cream manufacturing space now used for some baking and storage. The project would make better use of the space and complement Purity, which is a seasonal business, Lane said in an interview earlier Tuesday.

“It really is pretty much wasted space, so my goal has been to sort of make that space be a little bit more economically viable and help make the whole enterprise be a little bit more sustainable over time,” he said.

The exterior materials are to be determined, but brick is being considered for an appearance that goes with the existing building, Snyder told the board.

Planning board members generally welcomed the plans and noted that the site, comprising most of the triangle formed by Meadow, Fulton and Cascadilla streets, acts as an entrance to the heart of the city for motorists heading south along Route 13.

Lane acknowledged as much and said the surrounding area has great potential to be more than a part of town most people just pass through, noting proximity to the Cayuga Inlet waterfront.

Lane stressed that the Purity experience will remain.

“From a customer standpoint, nothing they’ve ever touched when they go in Purity will change,” he said. “It’s all the stuff in back that they never see. So the baking and the storage and the prep areas and everything will now be housed in new construction underneath some offices and some apartments. For customers going to Purity, the look and feel, other than having a shadow of a taller building over them, will be pretty much the same.”

Spencer Road apartments OK'd

The planning board also gave final site plan approval for a 35-unit apartment project at 400 Spencer Road. Ithaca Neighborhood Housing Services and Path Stone Development are the applicants.

The units are to be affordable for low- to moderate-income households and arranged in one building of three stories and two rows of two-story townhouses. Some residents of the Spencer Road area objected to the plan, saying it will worsen traffic at the site, which is near Stone Quarry Road. The project is called Stone Quarry Apartments.

Commons plans get approval

Plans for the city’s Commons repair and upgrade project won final site plan approval as well.

The project, developed with consultant Sasaki Associates, of Boston, would replace aging underground utilities while redoing the landscaping, lighting, furnishings and signs of the downtown pedestrian mall. Center facilities would be removed so the center remains open and accessible; most lights would be on overhead cables; and the Bernie Milton Pavilion would be moved to the foot of Tioga Street at Seneca Street. The city hopes to start construction as early as this spring, using its own funds with federal and state grants.


Here's the link:

http://www.theithacajournal.com/arti...g-its-building

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