Bank’s groundbreaking highlights Lansing Town Center growth

Development on the stretch of North Triphammer Road between Peruville Road and Franklin Drive expanded again as Cayuga Lake National Bank (CLNB) recently broke ground on its new Lansing branch at the corner of Triphammer and Franklin.

The new, full-service Lansing branch will include a timber-frame entrance, two drive-thru lanes, indoor service desks and office space. A grand opening is projected for summer 2021.

The new building is the latest piece in the development puzzle on the milelong Lansing Town Center stretch that now holds more than 30 businesses and town of Lansing facilities.

Three buildings will now stand on the east side of Triphammer. From the north, they include:

• a multiuse building on the corner hosting the Next Jennaration Dance Studio, Elevate IMS, NovaSterilis and a Tompkins Trust Company ATM
• a 12,000-square-foot professional building erected in 2019 by SEE Associates where Pine Point Medical and a land management firm opened their doors in September 2020
• the new CLNB branch

Across the street, No Barks About It took over an auto parts store to provide dog training, grooming and daytime pet care. Next door is the Lansing Bottle and Can Redemption Center, and then a multiuse building hosting the Styles and Smile salon and Vizella Media, with its ESPN Ithaca radio station and Tompkins Weekly.

Across Peruville Road is the Mirabito Convenience Store and Dunkin’, the Lansing Market, Crossroads Bar and Grille, Modu Heat, Verizon, and the Lansing Town Highway Department, while to the west are Phoenix Auto of Ithaca, Munson Tires and Auto, and Scoops Ice Cream.

Moving west on Auburn Road, the Milton Meadows housing development and the new Salt Point Brewery are arrayed around the Lansing Center Trail, with the town ballfields, Lansing Funeral Home, Lansing Town Hall, Lansing Community Center, Lansing Community Library, Lansing Chiropractic Office and Lansing Sub Shop filling in the south side of Auburn Road.

Rogues’ Harbor and a proposed convenience store and gas station mark the corner of East Shore Drive and Auburn Road, with Liberty Liquors, Lansing Grooming Spa, the Cayuga Lake Seido Karate School and the C&Y Convenience store to the west.

“I am delighted that people are interested in investing in our town,” Lansing Town Supervisor Ed LaVigne said. “We have great schools and a great community — credit goes to our planning and highway department. You want to come to Lansing? We’ll make you welcome.”

CLNB President and CEO Kelly Wade said the bank has a “strategic approach” to its expansion.

“We hired a company to do an analysis of our footprint and how we could expand from our current service area,” she said last August. “We saw the vitalization of Lansing — there are a lot of homes going up, a lot of population growth, a lot of businesses going into the area — and there is not a financial institution with a ‘brick and mortar’ presence.”

The new branch will be managed by Lansing native Kelly Gavitt, who currently serves as a mortgage loan officer at the Union Springs branch and brings 30 years of banking experience to the role.

“I am beyond excited and honored to be a part of this new expansion of Cayuga Lake National Bank into Lansing,” Gavitt said. “I have lived in Lansing my entire life, and there has always been such a desire for a bank in the area. With Cayuga Lake National Bank being customer-focused and community-minded, I feel this is a perfect fit for the Lansing Community and surrounding areas.”

CLNB is working with two local companies: architect George W. Breuhaus and D Squared Inc., an Ithaca-based construction company. Construction has been underway for several weeks, but due to COVID-19, no formal groundbreaking ceremony was held.

The bank was founded in 1864 as the First National Bank of Aurora. It currently has branches in Aurora and Union Springs. CLNB has 26 employees and about $180 million in assets.

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Cornell to host STEM event for 10th-grade girls

Local 10th-grade girls will have the opportunity to explore STEM careers with the Cornell Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Graduate Women’s Group on March 20, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The registration deadline is Feb. 19. For more information, contact cbewomensoutreach@gmail.com.