Archive: Around Town

When you hear the word 'development' it isn't uncommon to think of cookie-cutter homes packed as closely as possible with little parks sprinkled as sparsely as possible.  But one development in the Village of Lansing is breaking every imaginable stereotype.  When the 'Heights of Lansing' is completed it will have 85 town homes and 12 single family homes on the 34 acres.  "I'm going to try not to make it look like a development," says developer Ivar Jonson.  "It will be very Mediterranean.  There will be five single family homes on the circle, and they'll all look Mediterranean on the outside and inside.  This is completely different from what we've done before in Ithaca."


The town homes reflect Jonson and his wife Janet's taste and aesthetic ideas to take advantage of Ithaca's unique beauty.  The front door opens onto a staircase leading to a great room on the second floor.  That space includes the living room, kitchen and dining room.  It features a wall of arched windows and a fireplace, with another large glass door opening to a balcony on the other side.  "One thing about Ithaca, it's such a dark, gloomy place to live," Jonson says.  "That's why you need a lot of light.  The most important thing to me was the light coming from both sides.  It you didn't have the light coming in from both sides you wouldn't have this effect."


The effect is a large airy space elevated to maximize the view toward the lake on the west side, and a wooded area on the east.  Though town houses are typically narrow, these have been carefully designed to make their large rooms seem ever larger, with 11 foot high ceilings and a master bedroom suite that includes a Jacuzzi tub with its own fireplace.  Downstairs are two more bedrooms, one of which is suited for a home theater, and a two-car garage.  Each bedroom has its own bathroom, with an additional half bath for guests upstairs.  A private elevator joins the two levels, and a patio juts into the yard in back.

The Jonsons take a personal interest in every aspect of the design and construction.  "Everybody needs a great staircase," Janet says, also noting that when her husband didn't like the facade on the building he tore it down and  replaced it.  "We didn't like the facade's look," she says.  "So we changed the outside look.  That's what a good builder he is.  He saw his mistake.  He said, 'I don't like it.  I'll change it.'"


The couple started working on the project five years ago, spending $300,000 (not including the cost of the land) to develop the idea before breaking ground.  The first building containing four town houses is nearly complete, with a second one nearly framed.  Two of these units are already sold.  The couple plans to complete 10 town houses and three or four single family homes this summer.  Even when all the buildings are complete they won't begin to cover the 34 acres allotted to the project.  "More than half is open lands," says Janet.  "That's what Ivar really believes in."

Jonson has been built about 500 homes of all kinds and price ranges in the Ithaca area over almost 30 years, including the Janvar project that is also in the Village of Lansing.  "I've done a lot of scatter homes," he says.  "Expensive, inexpensive."

This project, the second phase of Lansing Trails, features upscale homes, with town houses listing at $374,000.   "Only the best for these places," he says.  "To build affordable housing now is almost impossible because the land is so expensive.  The County and everybody makes it so expensive."  The Jonsons took a lot of the ideas for the town houses from their own home, employing architect Daniel Hirtler to design the project based on the house he designed for them.  "Everybody should live like us," Janet says.

At a ribbon cutting Tuesday morning Chamber of Commerce Director of Membership and Public Relations Doug Levine noted, "A recent study in Tompkins County says that we're in dire need of 3,000 housing units as of right now.  You are filling that void with this project.  These are beautiful new housing units, a great new addition to Tompkins County."


Jonson says that by the time the project is completed it will cost around $50 million, making it the largest housing project currently in Ithaca area.  It will feature 4.8 acres of open space, 5.37 acres of parks with 4310 linear feet of walking trails and 4330 linear feet of sidewalks that will connect to existing Village sidewalks.  The homes to the west will be purposefully lower so that they won't spoil the view from the town houses.

But statistics can't describe the sense of luxury and space, of light and glorious views.  These homes are not like other homes in Ithaca, yet they take advantage of the area's best features.  And despite their proximity to the airport and Village shopping areas, they are serenely removed from the bustle of daily life.

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