After years of sitting vacant, the corner of Dryden Road and College Avenue is slated for transformation as developers Nick Robertson and Charlie O’Conner build luxury student housing, leasing nearly all 52 units before the building has even been built.
The eight-story building, called The Ivy, is set to open in August 2026, and is currently accepting leases for units ranging from studios to seven-bedroom apartments. The developers also purchased Koko, a Korean restaurant that closed in the spring and will reopen under The Ivy, according to Robertson.
Robertson wants The Ivy to be different from other Collegetown housing by being “highly amenitized.” The building will offer amenities like a rooftop terrace, wellness center, sauna, media lounge, private study rooms and a 24-hour coffee bar, according to its website.
The building’s construction is set to be completed in late January or early February, with work on the interior set to be completed in late June or early July, in time for leases to begin on Aug. 17, according to O’Connor.
While the structure of the building is not fully complete, The Ivy website is replete with computer-generated imagery to give potential renters a sense of what the building will look like.
Though only the base and first levels have gone up, the developers said that The Ivy has seen a lot of early demand — especially for its three-bedroom apartments, which range from $5,500 to $5,800 per month.
“We feel like we’re in a great position to have the building be full in the fall,” Robertson said.
For Ivy Ng ’27, it was the promise of a new, amenity-filled building that drew her to The Ivy.
She noted that she thought there would be less maintenance and was intrigued by the building’s features, such as the rooftop terrace and coffee bar.
“That sounded really nice to me,” Ng said. “I hadn't really seen any other apartment buildings that did that.”
Ng and her roommate first reached out to The Ivy in late August, and were offered a 20 percent off discount for their early interest, according to an email she received from their leasing team. These prices increased as floors got higher.
The cheapest offering at The Ivy was a two-bedroom one-bathroom in the basement which started at $1,595 per month per person. This made the total $3,190, when it would have been $4,000 at full price.
Ng stated that these prices were more comparable to what she currently paid, but was concerned that the square footage was smaller than her current apartment.
Although the novelty of The Ivy initially drew Ng in, it also made her uncertain. Ultimately, she chose to stay with her current building.
“I just still don't really know what it's going to look like on the inside,” Ng said. “I'd rather just be safe and stick with what I know is going to work for me.”
With their acquisition of 325 College Ave, Robertson said that he did not want to displace Koko’s owner, Sungyoon Hwang, and her restaurant next door at 321 College Ave. He said that he and O’Connor are working to renovate the Korean restaurant and incorporate it into The Ivy.
“We've been trying to focus on not having vacant storefronts … [and making] Collegetown a better experience for the residents that live there,” O’Connor said.
Robertson is no stranger to constructing housing for Cornell students, having been a part of the construction for projects including the College Townhouses, the Collegetown Terrace apartments and Cornell’s recent North Campus expansion, which added 2,000 beds.
O’Connor, too, is involved with student housing as the owner of Modern Living Rentals, a prominent management company in Ithaca that oversees a range of properties and aims to offer its residents “affordable luxury” apartments.
Both Robertson and O’Connor wanted to work on a project at 325 College Ave for years. Robertson said that the site was one that he “always wanted to be a part of.”
Even before he moved to Ithaca in 2015, O’Connor wanted to work on a project at 325 College Ave. He said that he found himself thinking: “Cornell is growing. We need more housing … there really should be a building here catering to Cornell students.”
With limited space in the neighboring areas, O’Connor said that “the only [thing] Collegetown can do is go up.”
Giselle Redmond is a member of the Class of 2028 in the College of Arts and Sciences. She is a staff writer for the News department and can be reached at gredmond@cornellsun.com.
