ITHACA, NY (607NewsNow) — The Vecino Group is starting repairs at Asteri Ithaca. 

“The city received a building permit application for corresponding repair work from the building’s owners, the Vecino Group, on the evening of March 9. City staff have approved the permit, and temporary repair work can begin. Vecino reported that a stairway pressurization test is scheduled for March 20th once repairs are complete. City officials have offered to seek a faster timeline with the third-party testing company due to the emergency,” according to an update from Ithaca Public Information Officer Alan Karasin.

The Vecino Group is paying for hotel rooms “for displaced residents through March 20th, or until the work is completed,” Karasin added.

An order to vacate was issued last Wednesday by Ithaca’s fire marshal “after firefighters responding to a fire alarm call found that both stairwells, which serve as the residential tower’s only means of emergency egress, had broken and missing glass in windows. This created an unsafe condition that prevented the stairwells from functioning as protected exit enclosures, which are required for safe evacuation during an emergency. The damaged windows also compromise the building’s smoke evacuation system,” officials said.