11/16/2023 0 Comments Housing master plan ithaca voice![]() ![]() Miller P.C., will handle civil engineering and surveying. Plan Architectural Studio of Rochester is the architect, while local firm Trowbridge Wolf Michaels Landscape Architects will be doing the landscaping, and T.G. With the sizable award from the state, the project is now in a much better position to start construction in 2019, with a construction timeline expected to last a little over a year. With this highly selective, time-constrained process, housing projects like West End Heights have to be planned out and approved years in advance. The project was previously passed over for funding in an application round earlier last year. The next project lining up for the Planning Board’s critique is in the same. These supportive housing grants are only awarded a few times per year, and typically fewer than one in three applicants are funded in an application round. Recent Collegetown projects that have completed or are going through the Planning Board site plan review process include Josh Lower’s 121 Oak Avenue, with 35 units and 40 bedrooms, and The Ruby at 228 Dryden Road, which will host 40 studio apartment units. ![]() While not enough to start construction, it helps the developer (Lakeview) to make a stronger case to the state that the project has local support and a little more funding to work with, and therefore the state doesn’t have to award as much. In the case of West End Heights, the city of Ithaca had awarded the project $150,000 toward construction, and Tompkins County had awarded an additional $100,000. This funding package is essentially a jigsaw puzzle of components, including cash equity from the developer, some bank or other commercial construction loans, and federal, local and state grant dollars. Unlike market-rate housing where construction costs are typically covered by the developer and a commercial lender, the low return on investment for lenders leads affordable and supportive housing to seek alternative funding to cover the financial gap so that construction can begin. ![]() The five-story, $21.7 million project was first announced in March 2017 and approved by the city later that year, but without state or federal grant funds, it was unable to move forward. ![]()
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