Village Grove construction on track in Trumansburg

Construction on the Village Grove development, projected to be the village of Trumansburg’s largest and greenest affordable housing project, is underway.

The $27 million project is meant to bring 10 affordable rental townhomes or duplexes, as well as 46 affordable apartments in a two-story building, and nine lots at a market-rate price that could likely house 17 apartments, to the south side of the village by the end of the year. 

The goal of the project, Ithaca Neighborhood Housing Services (INHS) officials state on their website, is to create an intergenerational, mixed-income community where seniors can age in place and young families can purchase homes in the very competitive local housing market.

The project will also include a new, stand-alone commercial building that will host the Trumansburg Community Nursery School (TCNS), expanding childcare options in the area.

Village Grove will be an all-electric development, utilizing both ground-source and air-source heat pumps, as well as energy generated by an off-site community solar facility.

Rental applications will be available in late July 2024. Construction is scheduled to be complete by the end of December 2024.

INHS broke ground on the energy-efficient project back in December on a portion of a 19-acre lot of undeveloped land at 46 South St. 

Since then, INHS officials have made efforts to keep the community up to date on how the project is shaping up.

“We started sending out a monthly update to those who signed up to receive updates on the project,” said INHS Director of Community Relations Justina Fetterly. “People can sign up to receive updates at www.ithacanhs.org/villagegrove. Construction is on time at this point.”

Part of INHS’ newsletter breaks down the project’s timeline:

• Site work: All of the site work for the entire project will go in at the beginning. This will take about six to eight months. The first phase of site work, affordable rentals, some affordable units for sale, and the TCNS would take approximately 14 months total.
  
• Affordable rental buildings: These buildings will be constructed at about the same time as the site work. They will take approximately 12 months to complete.
  
• Affordable for-sale buildings: These buildings/lots will likely happen in two to three phases. The first phase would happen along with the site work, and the subsequent phases over the following two to eight years.
  
• Market rate: These buildings will be built as the lots sell. It is hard to say how long this will take; 10 years would not be an unusual time period, INHS officials state on their website.

Recently, the project also underwent interior construction. INHS posted a notice about this on its site over the weekend of June 29-30.  

“All work will be done indoors and minimum to no disruptions are expected,” the note read. “Thank you in advance for your patience and understanding as our crew works diligently to ensure the safe and timely completion of this project.”

In the past, Fetterly has said that rents will vary based on unit size and tenants’ income bracket.

“One-bedrooms range from $775 to $1250; two-bedrooms range from $925 to $1495; and three-bedrooms range from $1050 to $1695,” Fetterly said. “There’s no difference between the cost of the units in the multifamily building and the townhomes.”

To keep rents affordable for residents at a time when county rents continue to soar, the organization is taking advantage of state and federal tax incentives, including low-income housing tax credits. 

INHS also secured below-market-rate loans from New York State Homes and Community Renewal and the NYS Homeless Housing and Assistance Program, a construction loan from KeyBank and a permanent loan from the Community Preservation Corporation.

Additionally, the project was awarded grants from the Tompkins County Community Housing Development Fund, Empire State Development and county American Rescue Plan funds.

One of the project’s biggest selling points, and a source of praise and monetary awards from state energy authorities, is INHS’ commitment to making Village Grove a carbon-neutral development. The project leverages several environmental funding initiatives to reduce development costs, with INHS officials touting the project as the “greenest” development in the organization’s portfolio. 

For instance, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) awarded the project $1 million in funds as part of its inaugural Buildings of Excellence awards. NYSERDA also provided another $185,000 through its low-rise residential new construction program.

Ulysses Connection appears every week in Tompkins Weekly. Send story ideas to editorial@vizellamedia.com. Contact Eddie Velazquez at edvel37@gmail.com or on X (formerly Twitter) @ezvelazquez.

In brief:
Stephen Penningroth, Ph.D. in biochemical sciences and founder of the Community Science Institute, will host a presentation on the nature of global warming at the Ulysses Philomathic Library on July 23 at 6:30 p.m. 

The community conversation will center on how high temperatures are predicted to rise. Penningroth will also discuss solar geoengineering as one part of a potential solution to the warming problem. This program is intended for an audience of adults and young adults and will be approximately one hour, with time for questions from participants.