Short Visit in Ithaca - Pics (Elmira, South Hill: apartments, condos, hotels)

[Ex-Ithacan]

I stopped by Ithaca during my Upstate trip to visit my brother. I only had a couple of hours, so I got a few pics of downtown and Ithaca College. I also snapped a few of a small village (Newfield) a few miles outside of Ithaca when I headed to Elmira the next next morning. So all in all, not a big tour, but just a taste of my old hometown. This was in early October.

I'll start out with a few shots of Newfield (pop ~ 500).
not too much to the main part of the village.
1.


2.


3. I remember seeing a picture of this building with US Grant standing in front of it. :shrug:


4. An old barn down the road a bit from Newfield.


5. The reason I decided to take some pics in Newfield.


6.


7.


8. Yep, It's still in use.


Now some downtown Ithaca. Not too extensive as I wanted to see my brother (I know screwed up priorities).

9.


10. The public library located in an old Woolworth store.


11. My old Junior high school, now a mixed use building called DeWitt Mall (apartments, offices, stores, and restaurants including the Moosewood - well known for vegetarian menu)


12. Womens Community Building - may be torn down and replaced with affordable housing mid-rise.


13. I like this old rascal, now home to liberal newspaper The Ithaca Times.


14. Look east up Seneca street towards East Hill.


15. Great bar for locals, the Chanticleer. But what caught my attention was the major renovation next door to the local "Adult" shop.


16. Sad to see another of the city's vegetarian restaurants - The Lost Dog Cafe - is closed. I did hear another eatery was going to replace it.


17. Lots of trees in downtown Ithaca.


18. Angry door monster in alley.


19. New apartment building. Looks like exterior cladding work going on.


20. New movie theatre under renovated parking garage.


21. Theatre lobby from under garage.


22. Back alley showing off different building elevations.


23. Ithaca Car Share parking space.


24. New store.


25. A new 10 story boutique hotel is suppose to go in between the parking garage and the bridge (on the left).


26. Six Mile Creek which flows next to downtown. A walkway is to eventually be built far up the gorge cut by this creek.


27. Mini park behind new apartment building.


28. Pedestrian bridge across Six Mile Creek. That's the back side of the Cayuga parking garage where a 7 story condo is scheduled to be built.


29. Ithaca City Court building on the other side of the pedestrian bridge.


30. Construction site for condos, Cayuga Garage, The Holiday Inn hotel, McGraw House elderly housing.


31. The old NYSEG electric and gas company building.


32. Hey, it now houses the local Congressman's office.


33. There's too many empty spaces for my taste.....


34. but for a town its size, Ithaca has an amazing number and variety of restaurants.


35. Heading up South Hill to Ithaca College for a few pics. And there's Cayuga Lake heading north from the city. It makes a left in the distance and travels over 40 miles through The Finger Lakes region.


36. Actually higher above Cayuga's waters than Cornell. IC


37. A new athletic/entertainment center under construction on campus.


38. I believe this is the newest building on campus (built this year).


39. Ithaca's twin towers.


40. Looking northeast from Ithaca College toward Collegetown neighborhood and Cornell University.


41. Collegetown is the lower half of the pic, Cornell the upper half. Unfortunately the apartment building where I lived most of my youth is just out of sight next to the little grey apartment house on the bottom left.


42. Figured I'd better show at least one waterfall. This is Buttermilk Falls just outside the city limits on the south side. There's a little atv on the trail to the right.

[lucknow]

Great pictures. I just love the Finger lakes region. All of my family, {Canadians} just really like this area and often holiday there. It's got everything going for it in my humble opinion.

[ckhthankgod]

Beautiful pictures of what I think is one of America's best smaller cities.

[ki0eh]

Hey, I laid out the sidewalk in the foreground of shot #25 in the mid-90's, remembering my frustration at there not being one at that point in the late 80's as a Cornell student. I remember in the late 80's the density of Collegetown changed dramatically. I'm a little surprised to see the investment in high density residential downtown now, wondering what's driving it.

[Ex-Ithacan]

Thanks for the comments folks.

@ ki0eh, I'm guessing the need for housing in the county, and the investments in the downtown related to upgrading it (new parking structures, possibly redoing the Commons, and new hotels), are making the downtown more appealing for folks who want to live intown and not have to worry about mowing the yard or a long commute to the city.