Gary Newman 
Structural Option

Gateway Commons
Ithaca, NY

General Building Data

Building Name: 

Gateway Commons

Site and Location: 

311 E. Green St.
Ithaca, NY 14850

The project site is located between Six Mile Creek and where E. Green Street intersects with E. State Street.  It is a unique site in the sense that it is within walking distance of downtown Ithaca, and at the same time it is directly adjacent to the Six Mile Creek nature area. 

Occupancy or Function Types: 

The Gateway Commons building is a mixed-use occupancy including 25 upscale apartments and 2 retail spaces.

Building Occupant Name: 

The building is owned and managed by Ithaca Rentals and Renovations.  As of now there are no tenants for the retail spaces.  The apartment spaces are broken down into one, two, and three bedroom apartments.  It will cost between $1475 per month to $3295 per month to rent an apartment.

Size: 

The Gateway Commons building is approximately 43,000 square feet. 

Number of Stories Above Grade/ Total Levels: 

Gateway Commons is a six story building made up of seven levels: a basement level below grade and six enclosed levels above grade.  There is also a small roof level that allows access to mechanical equipment such as a cooling tower and an energy recovery ventilator. 

Primary Project Team:

Ithaca Rentals & Renovations
http://www.ithaca-rentals.com/index.htm

Holt Architects
http://www.holt.com/

Ryan-Biggs Associates
http://www.ryanbiggs.com/

Halco Mechanical
http://www.halcoheating.com/

The Sparks Electric Co. Inc.
Phone: (607) 273-0029

Northeast Construction Services
http://www.northeastconstruction.net/

Casler Masonry
Michael Casler:
Email: mcasler@caslermasonry.com
Phone: (315) 253-8871

Empire Precasters

Dates of Construction:
December 2005 – April 2007

Cost Information:
$ 7.2 million

Project Delivery Method:
Negotiated Contract

Architecture

Design and Functional Components:

The shape of the building is made up of two rectangular forms connected on their long sides.  The first five stories have a façade of brick, EIFS, and glass.  The sixth floor façade is composed of metal panel siding and glass, and acts as an ornamental cap for the building.  The façade materials used on the first five stories was chosen to make a connection between the Gateway Commons building and the Gateway Center building, a pre-existing building located on the same site. 

The basement is mainly storage and mechanical room space.  The first floor is made up of 2 retail spaces and a 1 bedroom apartment.  Most of this space is used as retail space, and there is an independent entrance into the residential portion of the building.  On floors two through six, a corridor is located where the two rectangular forms connect with each other.  On either side of that corridor there are apartments. The second through fifth floors are identical in their layout. Each floor includes (1) 3 bedroom apartment, (2) 2 bedroom apartments, and (2) 1 bedroom apartments.  The sixth floor includes (2) 2 bedroom apartments, (1) luxury 2 bedroom apartment, (1) 1 bedroom apartment, and an outdoor terrace.

Major Building Model Codes/ Standards:

LEED-certified with a silver certification
New York State Building Code 2002 (base on IBC)
ASTM Standards
NCMA Tek Notes
ACI Standards
ASCE 7-98

Zoning:

City of Ithaca municipal code
http://www.ci.ithaca.ny.us/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC={6B78535B-5C88-4C4E-A99A-3C0E9FF208D4}

Building Envelope: 

The building’s wall structure is constructed of  8” CMU.  Some walls have an exterior façade constructed of an EIFS (Exterior and Insulated Finishing Systems).  Other walls have an exterior façade constructed of brick.  This masonry system is made up of 3” XPS insulation against the CMU wall, an air space, and face brick connected to the CMU wall with wall ties.  The windows on this project are aluminum framed windows with a U factor of 0.60 Btu/sq. ft. x h x deg F and a maximum air infiltration rate of 0.1 cfm/sq. ft.  The sixth floor façade is made up of a 2” EPS insulation and metal siding.  The roof structure is a hollow core concrete plank topped with 6” of PolyISO insulation and a membrane roof.

 

Primary Engineering Systems

Structural:

The basement floor slab-on-grade and loads from the concrete walls are transferred onto spread footings with a 28-day strength of f’c = 3,000 psi.  The slab-on-grade is 5” thick and reinforced with #4 bars at 16” on center spanning in both directions.  The slab-on-grade has a concrete strength of f’c = 3,500 psi.  Basement walls will have a concrete strength of f’c = 3,000 psi or 4,000 psi depending on the type of wall.  There are also five concrete piers that are supported by spot footings on the north east corner of the building.  All of the footings are seated on either compacted structural fill or undisturbed indigenous soils composed of sand and gravel.  Both of these soil types have an allowable bearing capacity of 5,000 psf. 

Between the first and second floors the walls are grouted solid.  Between the second and third floors the walls are grouted at 2’ on center.  For the rest of the floors, walls are vertically reinforced with #5 at 4’ on center.  The walls are horizontally reinforced at 16” on center.  The exterior walls are on the north and part of the east and west sides have a brick façade that is supported by shelf angles at each floor.  The exterior walls on the south and other part of the east and west sides carry an EIFS façade.

The primary flooring system for the elevated floors of the building is precast, hollow core, concrete planks.  The planks span in the east/west direction.  On the first floor the planks have a thickness of 10”, but on floors two through six the plank thickness is 8”.  The planks have a 2” thick cementitous topping for all interior spaces.  The planks have a maximum width of 4’ and are allowed to have a minimum width of 1’-6”.  Planks located at interior bearing partitions must be connected with a 6’ long #3 bar or 5/16” diameter strand grouted into the keyway.  Planks are often connected to exterior CMU walls with #4 dowels that are bent into the keyways. On the first floor, half of the floor is planks while the other half is a 5” thick slab on grade.

The roof structure uses the same 8” thick, precast, hollow core, concrete planks as used on the floors.  At gridline D the roof begins to slope up toward the building’s south end at ¼”/foot.  Between gridline D and C the roof begins to slope up toward the building’s north end at slightly larger slope.  The roof planks have a 2’-8” roof overhang.  Two different steel shapes are used to support the planks at the overhang, a WT6x43.5 and an L6x6x1/2.  There is also a roof terrace on the sixth floor that uses the same planks system as used by the typical floor system.  There is no roof overhang on the sixth floor roof terrace. 

Mechanical:

The typical unit is conditioned by a MC QUAY heat pump with a 1.5 ton cooling capacity and on average a 24,000 BTU/hr heating capacity.  A chase brings outside air to the heat pumps where it is mixed with re-circulated air to meet the ventilation needs.  An Energy Recovery Ventilator (ERV) was also incorporated into the mechanical design.  The ERV is located on the roof and will be used to exchange the heat and humidity of the outgoing conditioned air with the incoming air.  This reduces the amount of energy that is required to heat or cool the fresh air.  There is also an EVAPCO cooling tower located on the roof with a GPM of 98, water in temperature of 102° F, and water out temperature of 90° F. 

Lighting/Electrical:

The electrical system in the Gateway Commons building operates under a simple radial system.  An NYSEG pad mounted transformer brings one service line into the switchboard.  The 2000 Amp 208Y/120 V switchboard distributes power to different panels throughout the building. 

The building is mostly lit by fluorescent lighting.  The apartments are lit by compact fluorescent lights and track lighting.  In the apartments lights are operated by a standard wall box switch.  In the public spaces lights are operated by occupancy sensors.  The lighting design for the retail spaces will be finalized by the company that decide to rent the space.

Construction:

The delivery method for the Gateway Commons project was a negotiated contract with Northeast Construction, the project’s general contractor.  The cost of the project amounted to $7.2 million.  Construction of the building started in December of 2005 and was completed in April of 2007. 

 

Engineering Support Systems

LEED Certification: