Editor's note: This piece is a developing story. The City of Ithaca did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but this article will reflect all new information as it becomes available.
Update, March 5, 12:26 a.m.: According to a post on Instagram from the Ithaca Tenant's Union, the Tompkins County Public Library's Seneca Room will open at 8:30 a.m. with staff from Ithaca Department of Social Services and the Reach Project available to "help Asteri residents." TCAT will also be providing rides "through the night" to requested locations, according to the post.
Additionally, Ithaca Food Not Bombs called the move "the largest mass eviction" in Ithaca, and that the order had "functionally doubled the homeless population in Ithaca." The group, which said it would be outside of the Asteri building in the early morning, encouraged people to drop boxes and bins outside of Asteri.
The City of Ithaca ordered occupants of the 181-unit Asteri building to vacate the residential tower due to an “immediate threat” to the safety of residents, effective immediately, according to a Wednesday night press release sent to The Sun by Ithaca Chief Information Officer Alan Karasin.
The order came after Ithaca firefighters responded to a fire alarm call and found serious safety issues and required the building operator to board up all windows and doors. It also ordered “corrective actions” to address safety concerns.
According to the release, the “Order to Vacate” was due to “unsafe building conditions” including broken windows that left the stairwells — the building’s only exit points — unserviceable in the event of an emergency.
“Because the damaged glass left both stairwells unsafe and out of compliance with the Uniform Code, City officials determined that the condition posed an immediate threat to the life safety of residents,” Karasin wrote in the release. “In some cases, an Order to Remedy may allow the owner to implement a fire watch while repairs are made, but this approach has previously proven unsuccessful at this address.”
A Sun investigation from December 2024 found that some residents described the apartment complex as unsafe, with Ithaca Chief of Police Thomas Kelly saying the development had “increased calls for service.”
The Asteri development has allegedly been the site of a stabbing, an attack in an apartment and intimidation by ax.
Asteri was originally built to combat increasing homelessness in Ithaca, and more than $96 million was spent to complete the affordable housing project, which offers housing for individuals making under a certain amount, alongside on-site support services reserved for previously homeless individuals.
Other residents saw Asteri as a recreation of “the Jungle,” a large homeless encampment behind big-box retail stores in the south of Ithaca.
“The new ‘Jungle’ is basically Asteri,” a self-described ‘Jungle drifter’ said during a November interview with The Sun.
In the wake of the order to vacate Asteri, the fate of those who made the decision to move from the Jungle to the Commons remains unclear.
“The Ithaca Fire Department and Ithaca Building Division have stated that their highest priority is the health and wellbeing of residents in every housing unit in the City,” Karasin wrote. “City staff from the Police Department will go door‑to‑door as needed to ensure residents are informed.”
The city did not immediately respond when operations in the building would resume or if it has plans to house residents displaced by the order.
Atticus Johnson is a member of the Class of 2028 in the College of Arts and Sciences. He is a senior writer for the News department and can be reached at ajohnson@cornellsun.com.
