ITHACA, N.Y. — The City of Ithaca was awarded a $1.89 million New York state grant on Tuesday that will partially defer the costs of an apartment building intended for low-income seniors.
The grant will pay for the demolition of the former offices of Tompkins County OAR and the now-closed Bottle & Can Retrieval Center on the 900 block of West State Street on Inlet Island.
A four-story, 24-unit apartment building constructed in the style of New York City’s iconic Flatiron Building is proposed to take its place; however, a design has not been made public yet and a potential timeline for the proposal is unclear.
The grant comes through the state’s Restore New York Communities Initiative, which is designed to support municipal and private partnerships to encourage the revitalization efforts, and grow local housing.
The application was submitted by the Ithaca Urban Renewal Agency (IURA), a quasi-independent public benefit corporation that works with the city on economic and development projects. The IURA selected the Flatiron project out of five applications to be submitted for the Restore NY grant.
Mayor Robert Cantelmo celebrated the receipt of the grant on Tuesday in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The properties slated for demolition are owned by local businessmen and brothers Ishka Alpern and Franklin Milton, who have publicly discussed for years now developing a project at the site of the 900-912 West State Street inspired by the Flatiron Building.
The proposed building would be about 29,000 square feet, with covered parking on its first floor and 2,000 square feet of commercial space. The second, third and fourth floors are supposed to be reserved for housing units.
The project marks another potential step in the redevelopment of Ithaca’s West End. The neighborhood has lost much of the commercial and industrial character that defined it for decades as residential and mixed-use development has increasingly reshaped the area.