Post Post-Industrial

Ithaca, NY may be bidding farewell to a hulking feature of their post-industrial landscape: the Ithaca Gun factory. Long abandoned, this lead-contaminated host to many a spooky high school video project (guilty) has piqued the interest of developer Frost Travis who wants to turn the site into 33 condo townhouses and a 2 acre public access point to view nearby Ithaca Falls.

The Ithaca Gun Company, which abandoned the factory in the mid eighties, manufactured an array of relatively successful shotguns including the Ithaca 37, used by the Los Angeles Police Department, and the Deerslayer series (which gave the Field & Stream gun blogger "subdural hematomas").

The factory lies up the hill from Ithaca's Fall Creek Elementary School (where mom teaches music) and currently functions mostly to slowly contaminate the neighboring waterfall and creek with asbestos and lead. But the smokestack, which pierces the Cornell University clogged skyline with a splinter of urban blight, is a stark reminder of Ithaca's manufacturing past.

The development will require a lot of clean up, about $2.4 million worth, which Travis hopes to secure with a grant from New York State. The $200,000-$300,000 condos would be no taller than the existing factory and would enjoy a spectacular view of Cayuga lake. Ra ra, more tax revenue for the city. Ra ra, a pretty access point to Ithaca Falls.

But when the gun-victim ghosts start haunting the bobo condo dwellers, there may not be state money available.