Library Place - Ithaca, NY - Grand Opening January 10th

After a challenging start, Library Place is now open and providing downtown homes for Ithaca’s maturing residents. Project managed by Hayes Strategy.

Library Place, a new facility featuring 66 apartment units in a four-story building on Court Street in Ithaca, opened its doors recently after years of demolition and construction. Concluding a complex project that began back in 2013, the building is ready to provide safe and modern housing for the area’s ever-growing 55-and-older population.

The new apartments have subtle safety features that make a big difference for older people’s safety, said Kelsey Reed, Library Place asset manager.

“It has grab rails, larger doors, lower counters,” Reed said.

The hallways on each floor are decorated to represent a different season. “The floors being different colors are for memory recognition purposes,” Reed said. Residents can remember they live on the red floor, for example, or the blue one.

Every shower has grab bars, a fold-down seat, and a lipless entry to reduce the risk of falls. When the Highlands needed a new home, these features made Library Place an appealing option.

The building is designed to invite interaction among the residents. There are common rooms on every floor and a large lobby with a seating area filled with books, a nod to the old library, also features as well as a warming pool with an automatic chair lift, a gym and a large room for events on the first floor. Two established local businesses — Rasa Spa and The Rook restaurant — will be moving in in the near future. The spa is expected to move in by the end of January, according to Travis, and The Rook will be relocating in the late spring/early summer, nearly doubling its seating space after the move.