ITHACA — Vestal–based Newman Development Group and Ithaca–headquartered Warren Real Estate, Inc. broke ground Nov. 14 on new luxury apartments and Class A office space in downtown Ithaca. The partners are redeveloping 140 Seneca Way to house 9,000 square feet of office space along with 38 luxury apartments housed on four upper floors. Warren Real […]
ITHACA — Vestal–based Newman Development Group and Ithaca–headquartered Warren Real Estate, Inc. broke ground Nov. 14 on new luxury apartments and Class A office space in downtown Ithaca. The partners are redeveloping 140 Seneca Way to house 9,000 square feet of office space along with 38 luxury apartments housed on four upper floors.
Warren Real Estate and the Park Foundation, a grant-making organization in Ithaca, are already signed on as the office tenants.
“This project will continue the revitalization of the city by keeping residents and quality businesses downtown,” Bryan Warren, owner of Warren Real Estate, said in a news release. “We hope Seneca Way will be the place to live in downtown Ithaca.”
Ithaca has done a great job over the years providing low-income housing and student apartments, but the city really wanted to bring some higher-end living options back from the suburbs to downtown, Jeffrey Smetana, vice president of Newman Development, contends.
“The market is really young professionals and empty nesters,” he says of potential tenants. The apartments, located just a block away from the Commons, the city’s downtown pedestrian mall, are ideal for anyone looking for downtown quality of life, he says.
All 38 apartments will have spacious floor plans with designer kitchens, while the building itself will include a private health club, roof terrace, under-building parking, bicycle storage, storage rooms, and numerous “green” features to promote a sustainable and healthy lifestyle, Smetana says.
“I think we’ll do well with our apartments,” he says, as they are already generating interest. Newman Development will formally roll out a website with leasing information and begin marketing the apartments in the coming weeks, he says.
Construction on the privately owned project is under way now, with Northeast Construction Group, a division of Newman Development Group, as general contractor. Newman expects to complete the project by the fall of 2013. HOLT Architects of Ithaca designed the project.
Smetana declined to disclose the project cost. Development of the project is supported by an array of financing from M&T Bank, Tompkins Trust Company, and PNC Bank. The project also received a New Markets Tax Credit allocation provided by the National Development Council.
Headquartered on Shippers Road in Vestal, Newman Development Group (www.newmandevelopment.com) owns and operates shopping centers across the United States and is also involved in all stages of retail development from site selection and land acquisition to construction and construction management. The privately held company also has offices in Plymouth Meeting, Pa., and San Francisco, Calif.
Warren Real Estate (www.warrenrealestate.com) provides commercial and residential real-estate services from two Ithaca offices.
Contact DeLore at tdelore@tgbbj.com