Not good news, but not necessarily bad, about the big Harold's Square project downtown
(see post 1540). Article from the Ithaca Journal:
Harold’s Square still on for Ithaca, with changes
David Hill,
dwhill@gannett.com | @Ijdavidhill 2:18 p.m. EDT August 26, 2014
The office market in downtown Ithaca looked pretty good to David Lubin two years ago.
Thus, the principal in L Enterprises, the company turning the former Harold’s Army Navy store and adjacent storefront buildings on the Commons into the Harold’s Square mixed-use project, planned for three floors of office rental space.
That was then. This is now: Lubin said the plans for Harold’s Square are still on, but with just one floor of offices. There will be two more floors of apartments. The ground floor is still to get retail space.
The changes are coming as planners for the project encounter a phenomenon other developers have faced in downtown Ithaca: construction costs rising more than they’d expected. The most common factor cited has been the improving regional economy, which meant more business for major construction firms.
Two major hotel projects downtown have been slowed by the phenomenon. The Hotel Ithaca, formerly known as the Holiday Inn, is being renovated in phases as construction costs came in higher than first projected, in part to keep employees working rather than shutting down completely last winter.
Meanwhile, Urgo Hotels, the company developing a Marriott planned for a wedge of space at the east end of The Commons on Aurora Street, has re-done its plans to lower construction costs. The company received final site plan approval on the changes in June but with certain conditions.
It took a presentation to the city’s Planning and Development Board Tuesday and Wednesday to show that it’s revised plans to meet the conditions, including tweaks to the loading zone on Aurora Street, to the entrance from the adjacent Green Street parking garage, and the building’s exterior appearance, which uses less costly materials than first proposed.
“It’s really just as you’ve seen with every new project lately: Construction’s expensive,” Lubin said. “Everybody’s looking at ways to bring down those costs so that it’s a do-able project.”
At Harold’s Square, the footprint and the height of 11 stories is still on, but lack of enough commitments on long-term office-space leases has forced changes.
“I really just thought this would be a great opportunity for some businesses to reconfigure their space into modern spaces, and I just thought, incorrectly unfortunately, that people would be jumping for it,” Lubin said. “I’ve had some minor interest but I was really looking for long-term leases that would fill up two floors, and I just can’t get it.”
Replacing some office floors with apartments means the ground-floor atrium would have to be smaller. In addition, the development team is working construction techniques into the equation, considering poured concrete floors or using pre-built concrete floors over the steel frame. Another option is whether to use non-load bearing curtain exterior walls. Each change has ramifications that have to be accounted for, Lubin said.
“We haven’t shelved it or anything. We’re just trying to figure out how the best way to get it built.”
Significant changes, particularly to the exterior, would require going back before the city planning board.
Lubin had hoped to couple construction with the rebuild of the Ithaca Commons to lessen disruption, but that’s not going to work out. It’s unlikely construction would commence this season, but that isn’t so important to the project, Lubin said, as the first step is demolition of existing buildings, which can go on during the winter, and, at least if certain techniques are used, because the scale means poured concrete stays warm.
“It’s big enough that you’re bringing in heavy equipment. It doesn’t care if the ground’s frozen or not,” Lubin said. “We might be pouring foundation this winter. It doesn’t matter because there’s so much concrete. It generates so much heat that you don’t have to worry about it.”
the link:
http://www.ithacajournal.com/story/n...ange/14631155/