About Us

West Shore Apartments is a second-generation, family-owned business that has been housing Cornell students and Ithaca residents since 1967. We own and operate 13 units across five properties — studios to four-bedroom apartments — in Collegetown and along the West Shore of Cayuga Lake. Everything is fully furnished. Most units include at least some utilities, internet, and trash with a one-time fee. When you call or email, you reach Karla Terry directly. Not a call center. Not a property manager. The owner.

This is our story.

West Shore Apartments began in about 1965, when co-founder Bob Terry was offered a position at Cornell University. Bob, his wife Linda, and their two children relocated to Ithaca from the Southern Tier of New York State. While exploring Cayuga Lake, they discovered a three-unit apartment building on the West Shore. Unable to afford a house, they borrowed money to buy the building, moved into one unit, and rented the other two. They were, in a sense, their own first tenants.

That building on Taughannock Boulevard is still standing. It has been updated, and is still being rented today, where West Shore Apartments began.

In the mid-1970s, as the business grew, Bob and Linda moved the office from the lake into town, setting up at 107 Worth Street, three blocks from Cornell. Because the office is inside their home, there have never been posted hours. Tenants could always just knock. Bob and Linda raised six children in Ithaca. All six graduated from Ithaca High School. Four of them went on to earn degrees from Cornell University. They weren't just raising a family in a college town — they were living the experience their tenants were having, from multiple angles at once: as parents, as Cornell community members, as people who genuinely understood what it meant to make Ithaca home. By 1980 the business had grown to include multiple properties across the city. They continued acquiring and renovating throughout the decades, always focused on what students and residents actually needed: clean, well-maintained apartments, fair pricing, and a landlord who answered the phone. Today, their daughter Karla Terry runs the business. Karla grew up in Ithaca, graduated from Ithaca High School, and earned her degree from Cornell's School of Hotel Administration in 1997. After building a career in hospitality and real estate, she returned to Ithaca in 2011 to carry the family's work forward. Same values. Same commitment. Second generation. For us, "making Ithaca home" has never been a marketing phrase. It is what we have been doing — for ourselves, our children, and our tenants — for more than 60 years. We look forward to doing it for you.