The Ithaca Downtown Conference Center and the Asteri apartment complex, which offers affordable housing and the country’s first fully electric conference center, has opened in Ithaca.
It includes 181 affordable housing units in the heart of the city's downtown. Forty of those units are supportive housing for people who have experienced homelessness.
Local and state elected officials gathered at a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Tuesday to celebrate the project's completion.
New York Lieutenant Governor Antonio Delgado said the project will provide a boost to Ithaca’s economy and keep the area affordable for residents.
“The people who love this city and who love this region should be able to afford to live here and raise their families here,” he said.
Assemblymember Anna Kelles, who represents the Ithaca and Cortland areas, said the new apartments are a step towards addressing high housing prices in Ithaca.
“Every single day, I hear from people who say, ‘I had to leave downtown because I couldn't afford to live here anymore,’" Kelles said. "Every single day,”
She added that the new conference center will drive traffic to small businesses downtown, allowing for more consistent hours for employees.
“Events that will come in Monday through Thursday will mean that there will be a much more stable inflow of people who are staying at those hotels and going to those restaurants,” Kelles said.
The location has over 15,000 square feet of event space. There are also plans to open a small store on its first floor that will be open to the public, according to the venue’s website.