Student-housing developer targets Cornell Heights

CA Student Living has filed a site plan review with the City of Ithaca for three buildings on a 2.4-acre parcel in Cornell Heights. The proposed $8 million project, shown in this rendering, has drawn concerns from 12-month residents that it would alter the character of the historic district neighborhood. / CA STUDENT LIVING PROVIDED RENDERING

A Chicago-based developer and manager of student housing has filed plans with the city for a 45-unit apartment complex at 1 Ridgewood Road, in the area of the Cornell Heights neighborhood where proposed rezoning has bogged down.

CA Student Living has filed a site plan review submission with the city for three buildings on a 2.4-acre parcel. It would have 114 beds. The property, under a sale contract, according to the plan’s submission cover letter, has frontage on Ridgewood Road and Highland Avenue. The total project cost is put at $8 million.

In addition to the site plan review by the city Planning and Development Board, the project is subject to review for appropriateness by the Ithaca Landmarks Preservation Board because it is in the Cornell Heights city historic district.

When another developer, RABCO Highland House, proposed a four-building complex at 312 Thurston Ave., it drew complaints from nearby nonstudent residents. The neighborhood has been a mix of single-family homes, apartment buildings, homes divided into apartments, and fraternity and sorority houses. The Cornell Heights historic district covers about 130 acres north of Fall Creek, and is roughly bounded by Highland Avenue, Triphammer Road, Stewart Avenue and Cayuga Heights.

But the neighborhood is also close to campus, and some year-round, permanent residents have expressed concerns that it’s under development pressure to become more student-oriented and large-scale.

The Ithaca Landmarks Preservation Commission, which can review plans for compatibility with existing buildings in a historic district, requested that the Common Council consider rezoning properties in the Cornell Heights district from R-U to R-3aa. That designation would limit the maximum building footprint sizes to be no more than 120 percent of the surrounding contributing buildings in the district.

Rezoning was put on hold in February, however, after members of the council’s Planning and Economic Development Committee decided there was no consensus on how to address all the concerns.

The Ridgewood Road site is described as undeveloped woodland with an abandoned pool and outbuilding. According to the cover letter, CA Student Living consulted with the landmarks board and city staff, and revised its plans down from one building with 70 units and 192 beds.

CA submitted two parking options, both with 51 underground spaces. The developer’s preferred plan has 13 surface spaces, less than required under city rules, and shielded by a pergola. The alternative would add six surface spaces.

CA was formed in 2004 as Campus Acquisitions and part of the CA Ventures “family of institutionally minded specialists,” according to its application. According to the company’s website, it has projects near university campuses in several states.

Stephen Bus, senior vice president for acquisitions and development, said in an email that he went to Cornell University and has seen other projects, but there hasn’t been much new for the North Campus and Cornell Heights area. The company likes “doing some smaller ‘boutique’ projects” at campuses like Cornell with a lot of applications for limited enrollment, he added.

Some residents of the area have sought to meet with Common Council representatives about the project and city controls on development. Walter Hang, a Wait Avenue resident and who also is known for opposition to hydraulic facturing for natural gas exploration and his advocacy for thorough industrial-site remediations, said residents want a moratorium on development there until the city adopts a revised comprehensive plan. A committee is working on a revised plan.

He and other neighbors believe the project is too large for the historic district, and said city officials have acknowledged the city lacks tools to fully regulate development as student-housing pressure increases. Hang has organized an online petition campaign requesting a moratorium on the project until the Common Council can take action to preserve the neighborhood.

“The reason that this is such an important fight is because this is going on all over the city. The city is approving these huge development projects without a comprehensive plan,” Hang said in an interview. “For the purposes of safeguarding lovely Cornell Heights, we want our concerns, which are shared by the city, to be fully resolved before one Ridgewood is approved.”