ITHACA -- Integrated Acquisition and
Development Corporation of Ithaca, Pioneer Companies of Syracuse
and Ciminelli Development Company of Buffalo are the three
finalists for the developer of Cornell University's proposed $17
million, 130,000-square-foot office building in downtown Ithaca.
Cornell plans to pick one of the three developers in the next
10 days to two weeks, the first major step in a project designed
to ultimately bring 300 university employees and 200 other
office workers to an as-yet undetermined downtown location.
"All three of them are excellent, and any one of them
can do the job," said Tom LiVigne, real estate manager for
Cornell Real Estate. "It's going to be a very difficult
decision in the end."
Among the factors Cornell will have to consider are the
specific proposals from the different companies and how
financially feasible those proposals are. But what won't be part
of that decision is whether those companies would use union
labor.
Cornell intends to leave that up to the developer. A newly
formed organization called the Common Good Coalition, however,
is putting pressure on the university to require the chosen
developer to use 100 percent union labor.
David Chiazza, vice president of development for the
Ciminelli Development Company, said Wednesday his company didn't
have any policy for using union labor. But he said it typically
operates what's known as an "open shop," using both
union and non-union labor.
"For this specific project, that's a bridge we'll cross
if we're picked," he said.
Chiazza said the company hasn't developed any other projects
in the Ithaca area before. But its sister company, Ciminelli
Construction Company, has worked on projects in Tompkins County
before, he said. Ciminelli owns, manages and has developed more
than 4.5 million square feet of commercial and industrial space.
Representatives from Integrated Acquisition and Development
and Pioneer Companies could not be reached for comment
Wednesday.
The Ithaca corporation was the major developer of the Cornell
Business and Technology Park in Lansing.
The Syracuse company has developed projects in Upstate New
York, Arizona, Colorado and North Carolina with tenants
including IBM, Xerox, Travelers, and Time Warner Cable. It also
has developed 15 retail shopping center projects from Maine to
Michigan, according to its Web site.
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