Big step for the Emerson site redevelopment (see post 1644) (From the Journal):
Purchase agreement set for Ithaca Emerson site
Public-information meeting April 10 on redevelopment of closed factory on city-town line
6:14 PM, Mar 31, 2014
Written by
David Hill
A Horseheads development company announced Monday it has finished a purchase agreement for the former Emerson Power Transmission site on Ithaca’s South Hill on the city-town line with plans to turn it into a combination of apartments, business space, gardens and park.
Unchained Properties has scheduled a public information meeting at 5:30 p.m. April 10 at Cinemapolis in downtown Ithaca to explain the redevelopment project and solicit input.
Unchained managing partner David Lubin has disclosed the general idea of the redevelopment plan with local and state government officials, but Monday’s announcement is acknowledgment that plans to redevelop the 95-acre site with 800,000 square feet of building space are moving forward.
“Ithaca is such a vibrant city where quality of life is taken seriously,” Lubin said in the announcement. “The UP team of mostly upstate professions including environmental engineers, architects, landscape architects and structural engineers is very sensitive to the site’s importance to the community because of its history and its high visibility; we’re intent on bringing it back to life in a responsible way.”
The site is to be called The Chain Works District after its history making industrial and automotive chains.
The plant dates to the early 20th century and was used to manufacture chain for automotive and industrial uses. Formerly known as Morse Chain, it was later owned by BorgWarner and then Emerson, the St. Louis industrial corporation, which announced in 2010 it would shut it down to move operations elsewhere.
From 1928 to 1982 the property was owned by BorgWarner. Emerson Power Transmission continued manufacturing at the site from 1983 until its closure in 2011. BorgWarner built a new manufacturing facility in Lansing for making drive-train and transmission components, including chain, for cars and trucks, and Emerson took over and made industrial chain and related equipment on the South Hill site.
The April 10 meeting will serve to outline the initial plans but also to hear input, said Scott Whitham of Whitham Planning and Design in Ithaca, who is responsible for project planning and government approvals.
In an interview, Whitham noted that the plant was at times the area’s largest employer, and generations of Ithacans worked there or have relatives or friends who did, or they know the site as a major landmark.
“We’d love to share our excitement and also hear any concerns,” Whitham said. “A big project of this scale brings with it both excitement and concern. It’s so much easier to have an open conversation earlier in the process so that we can together understand the scope of what this undertaking is.”
A potential hurdle is environmental effects of the site’s industrial history from the days before close regulation of manufacturing waste and chemicals. Tricholorethylene, known as TCE, is a concern in the neighborhood since it was realized in 2004 that contaminated vapors have been seeping into some homes on South Hill. TCE was used at the plant decades ago as a chemical degreaser.
But Monday’s announcement is a sign the developers believe the environmental issue can be dealt with. Lubin, through Lubin Enterprises LLC, received $344,000 in December 2012 from Empire State Development for assessing what’s needed to undo the contamination. To facilitate environmental monitoring, Emerson Corp. filed plans with the city last year to subdivide the property and keep a portion containing underground storage tanks.
Unchained Properties said it will start the state environmental review process and prepare a draft generic environmental impact statement on the project. One complicating factor is that the site is split between two municipalities, but Whitham said it’s clear that whichever is not the lead agency for review will be closely involved.
The name was inspired by a photo the project team found from the days when the factory was being built, Whitham said.
“There’s a little sign above one of the doors that says ‘the Chain Works,’ and we as a team were very captivated by not only the image but by that sign,” he said. “It became the informal way to refer to the project, and it has become the formal one.”
Lubin has developed and operated three Hilton-brand hotels, including one each in Horseheads and Oneonta, as well as commercial property in Horseheads and Corning. But he is also involved in Ithaca. Lubin is a member of the Downtown Ithaca Alliance board. He and his sister, Enid Littman of Ithaca, through a company called L Enterprises, own the former Harold’s Army-Navy store building on the Commons, and in fall 2012 announced a plan for a mixed apartment, retail and office complex there to be called Harold’s Square. Their father, Harold Lubin, ran a store there that closed in 1998.
Here's the link:
http://www.ithacajournal.com/article...a-Emerson-site