ITHACA — A future addition to Cornell University's office space inventory received a key green light from the Town of Ithaca Planning Board Tuesday night.
The planning board granted final site plan approval for Cornell's proposed 60,000 square-foot office building project to be located east of 391 Pine Tree Road, near East Hill Plaza.
Project manager Herman Sieverding, vice president of real estate development company Integrated Acquisition & Development Corp., said the approval allows designers to move forward with construction plans, with the goal of a groundbreaking by June or July. They'll then look to open the building in or around July 2007. Integrated Acquisition will develop the building, while Cornell will own and maintain it.
Cornell officials first announced plans for the office building in September 2005. According to the Cornell Real Estate Department Web site, the three-story building will be located behind the Cornell Institute for Social & Economic Research and East Hill Plaza.“The purpose of the project is to construct cost effective, flexible office space at an off-campus location to be used for a variety of university administrative and support functions,” the Web site reads. It does not specify what departments or staff will use the building.
The project will involve the demolition of 11 or 12 vacant, Cornell-owned structures, including old cattle stalls and barns, Sieverding said. It will be accompanied by 250 parking spaces, he said.
Before any plans can be made final, project officials must go before the town's Zoning Board of Appeals to discuss a variance for one of the outside signs for the building, Sieverding said.
A memo by the town's assistant director of planning, Susan Ritter, to the planning board describes the development of a sidewalk on the east side of Pine Tree Road as part of the project.
A crosswalk to be located about 200 feet south of the Pine Tree Road and Maple Avenue intersection — just south of the East Lawn Cemetery gated driveway — is also included in the plans.
Other approvals
The planning board also took action Tuesday on several other agenda items. They included preliminary site plan approval and a special permit for a proposed 10,000 square-foot addition to the Genex Monsanto Building, Production Center 2, at 521 Sheffield Road.Preliminary and final site plan approval were also granted for construction of a rock riprap wall, dock, boat lift and mooring at 1028 East Shore Drive.
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