Hartford Business Journal

16 Hartford Business Journal • May 25, 2015 www.HartfordBusiness.com the area,'' Corrigan said. SINA's bookend In late March, the Asylum Hill neighbor- hood got an extra boost, with the opening of the CTfastrak busway and its station on Hawthorn Street. It serves as a pickup/ dropoff point for Aetna employees and neighborhood residents commuting to and from school and work. The station's presence should help, NINA officials and residents say, accelerate inter- est among their neighbors and prospects in reviving the Asylum Hill neighborhood. Across town, NINA's South End coun- terpart, the South End Institutions Alliance (SINA), too, has had underway its own rede- velopment program, building or restoring more than two dozen houses, to lift home- ownership and the neighborhood abutting Hartford Hospital and Trinity College. Together with the office-to-apartment conversion in full swing downtown, Hart- ford is realizing both private and public rein- vestment in several of its key neighborhoods just as the national and Connecticut econo- mies are showing signs of picking up steam. Asylum Hill's general boundaries extend westward, from just east of The Hartford's headquarters campus on Asylum Hill, to Woodland Street; south, to I-84; and the northerly side of Sargent Street. Although NINA's program extends home- ownership to low- and moderate-income households, there are some exceptions. NINA has sold a two-family for as much as $275,000 and a three-bed, 2 ½-bath single- family for as low as $155,000. Buyers range from those with incomes of 60 percent of the area median of $85,000, to ones earning up to 120 percent of the median, said NINA Executive Director Ken Johnson. "We recognize that healthy neighborhoods benefit from diverse incomes,'' Johnson said. Architect Valerio Giadone and wife Dulcie bought a 2,300-square-foot, two- bedroom Asylum Hill home in 2006 that Aetna had donated to make way for park- ing. It was famously towed to Ashley Street three-quarters of a mile from its original site, on Sigourney Street. After investing nearly a decade of "sweat equity'' in their home, they have embraced it and the neigh- borhood, Valerio Giadone said. NINA's investment in refurbishing and building Asylum Hill houses not only has led to a diverse cohort of homeowners into the neighborhood, but also prompted many long- time residents to spruce up their own properties, he said. "It's really bring- ing new life into the neighborhood,'' as well as more fami- lies with children, Giadone said. Retired Aetna IT employee Paul O'Mara and his wife paid about $21,000 for a rundown, eight- room Victorian, also on Ashley Street, in 1975, while both worked at The Hart- ford. Lack of a heat- ing system and failed plumbing were among its many issues, O'Mara said, but they stuck it out, fixing up the house and raising their adult son in it. O'Mara is gleeful about NINA's reha- bilitation of the neighborhood's housing and its attraction of residents with varied ethnic and financial backgrounds. Crime, he said, is relatively low, though occasional car break-ins remain annoyances. Houses that NINA rehabs wind up "as the gems of the neighborhood," O'Mara said. Res- idents who had grown ambivalent about their properties and the neighborhood are starting to invest in upgrades to their own houses to keep pace, he and NINA officials say. "Right now, we're on an upward swing," said O'Mara, 70, who is communications officer for the Asylum Hill Neighborhood Association. Corporate residents The Hartford's Asylum Hill roots date to its 1810 founding on property that was once known as "Lord's Hill,'' and where West Hartford's American School For The Deaf was originally located, according to a neighborhood his - tory posted on Live- Hartford.org. Since 2003, The Hartford has invested $1.5 mil- lion toward revi- talizing some 18 to 20 houses — many of them previously in varying stages of disrepair — in the neighborhood that surrounds its 10-acre headquarters campus, said Diane Cantello, who is the insurer's vice president for cor- porate responsibility. This year, the insurer will provide another $150,000. The insurer further cemented its ties to Asylum Hill, with the May 15 renaming of a neighborhood park after its previous chairman and CEO, Liam McGee, who died in February. The Hartford also promotes its employ- ees' volunteer engagement with NINA, with help refurbishing its homes to cleaning the neighborhood, Cantello said. Earlier this year, the insurer launched a net $10,000 "gift'' to employees who commit to buying in the neighborhood. The insurer also sponsors a weekly shuttle for its employees and Asylum Hill neighbors to the Billings Forge complex in the South End's Frog Hollow neighborhood, to dine or to shop at its seasonal farmer's market. On June 2 and 11, The Hartford plans a pair of free noon-day outdoor ensemble performanc- es by members of the Hartford Symphony for neighborhood residents and its workers. Nothing is unusual about The Hartford's neighborhood engagement, Cantello said. It, too, promotes neighborhoods in other U.S. communities where it has presences, she said. "This has been our home for nearly a century and we want to contribute to a vibrant community and to restore the neigh- borhood to its rightful glory,'' Cantello said. "We saw then, and we continue to see,'' she said, "the role of NINA as a catalyst for investment in the North End." NINA currently is constructing a Vic- torian on a once-vacant lot on Huntington Street, with three to five more on the draw- ing board, said Corrigan. Also, two to three more housing rehabs are planned. NINA is general contractor, working with Pearce Remodel of Simsbury, for those projects. "We'll do as many blighted properties that come our way,'' Corrigan said. "I guess we'll go until we run out.'' n Deal Watch wants to hear from you. E-mail it, along with contact information to: gseay@HartfordBusiness.com. Greg Seay is the Hartford Business Journal News Editor. Neighbors, sponsors spark 'new life' from page 1 H B J P H O T O S | G R E G O R Y S E A Y The new CTfastrak station on Huntington Street serves neighbors, Aetna workers, among others. Modern elements, like The Hartford's headquarters tower, top photo, blend with the cen- tury-old character of Hartford's Asylum Hill community. ▶ ▶ Since 2003, The Hartford has invested $1.5 million toward revitalizing some 18 to 20 houses — many of them previously in varying stages of disrepair.

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