Courtesy of STREAM Collaborative

The new building at 118 College Ave. would have four stories and 28 bedrooms.

March 21, 2017

New Student Apartments Slated for Collegetown

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Developers are hoping a new four-story apartment building with 28 bedrooms and balconies at 118 College Ave. will be available for students to rent by August 2018.

The project, proposed by local developer Todd Fox of Visum Development, is expected to cost $1.4 million to build and will be marketed to Cornell student renters.

A two-story, five-bedroom house with a paved driveway and concrete retaining wall currently sits on the 0.87 acre lot. Site development will require the complete removal of the existing house and landscaping of the driveway, walkways and lawn, according documents submitted to Ithaca’s Division of Planning and Economic Development.

The proposal is for an apartment building of four, six-bedroom units with three bathrooms and one four-bedroom unit with two bathrooms. The lower level will have a bike room, a mechanical room and a trash area outside.

All above-ground units will have a balcony facing College Avenue.

The developer included specific landscaping plans in the documents, saying he intends on creating “a lush experience with interest throughout the seasons” by planting foliage along the street edge, side and rear yards.

Preference will be given to native plants, and the plant life will be purposely selected to be naturally drought-tolerant, requiring no irrigation or manual watering past the initial period of planting.

No off-street parking will be provided for this project, the documents say, and so it is predicted that car ownership among future residents will be discouraged as a result.

Instead, residents will have access to both indoor and outdoor bike storage areas and will also be provided with a membership to Ithaca Carshare as a part of their lease. Multiple cars will be available directly in Collegetown and throughout Ithaca for use.

Visum Development did not respond to requests for comment, but developers are hoping to move forward with the development process during summer 2017 if all documents are approved, according to The Ithaca Voice.