February 12, 2025 - American Public News

ITHACA, N.Y. — It’s an uncertain real estate market, but one local developer is sending up the trial balloons on a recently completed local apartment building.Frost Travis of Travis Hyde Properties completed the conversion of the office building at 401 East State Street into The Dean, a residential building, last year. Now he’s considering selling the building to a potential buyer if the price is right.The sales brochure from commercial real estate seller Newmark Group, which does not list a price for the building, touts the strong market in Ithaca, the high barriers to entry for new buildings — which theoretically makes it easier to buy in than try to build, fully occupied ground-floor retail space and upside potential in an area with both a growing economy and a growing student population thanks to Cornell University.The Dean, a five-story, 47,285-square-foot building previously known as the Gateway Center, was built as a warehouse in 1925. It was partially converted into meeting and office space by Don Dickinson in the 1990s, and then fully renovated into offices by developer Mack Travis in the early 2000s. The $14 million conversion to a 46-unit apartment building was completed late last spring. Units range from about $2,300-$3,300 per month for a one-bedroom unit, and $3,600-$4,800 per month for a two-bedroom unit.Developer and potential seller Frost Travis has run into some financial turbulence with his other recently completed apartment building, Library Place on the 100 block of West Court Street. Travis stated it has been difficult to find seniors willing to pay the premium rents for Library Place’s units, and Travis cut a deal with the Tompkins County Industrial Development Agency to lower rents by 10% for two years in exchange for lifting the age restriction that was initially in place.While it would seem that selling The Dean could be a reaction to Library Place’s financial woes, Travis stated that was not the case when contacted for comment by The Ithaca Voice. “They’re unrelated,” Travis said. “We’re looking at a number of different funding sources for Library Place.”Travis said The Dean listing was a passive sales offering — a consideration of options. The approach is not too unlike what City Centre did down the street in years past. In December 2019, Newman Development Group passively offered City Centre for sale to gauge interest and determine what investors might be willing to pay. In March 2021, the building was sold to a New York-based real estate investment firm for an eye-popping $75 million.“We’re just testing the market. We don’t necessarily want to sell. We tend to build and hold,” Travis added. Travis described the pre-leasing of The Dean as going “reasonably well, given the construction next door,” referring to the PeakMade apartment building underway to the east. He said 30% of the units were rented and the number is rising, though being off-cycle did present an obstacle. The rental market in Ithaca is driven by students, so signing leases in April, when most units are signed for in the late summer and fall, tends to be an impediment.“It cost a lot more than I anticipated,” said Travis of The Dean. He noted that plans to paint the exterior were dropped at the strong urging of the Ithaca Landmarks Presentation Commission. “But it’s a beautiful building. It’s urban living, it’s close to everything.”While the Newman brochure doesn’t state a price for The Dean, similar new multi-family housing in Ithaca has sold for $400 per square foot in the past few years, which would put a potential sales price for The Dean potentially around $20 million. The coming months will tell if the price is right for any interested suitors.The post Local developer floats sale of downtown Ithaca building appeared first on The Ithaca Voice.First published by The Ithaca Voice.

Daily Archives: February 12, 2025

Local developer floats sale of downtown Ithaca building

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