A series of entries designed to capture the ongoing adventures of NINA! See how we came to be where we are today, and follow along as we enter the new century of social media!
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The most unique house in Asylum Hill is now the latest owner-occupied home in Asylum Hill! A family of 5 will start moving in now, and we are thrilled to welcome them to the neighborhood.
Work on the new elevator at 207 Garden Street progresses steadily. This represents a substantial addition to the buildilng, not just by making it much more accessible to future occupants but also in terms of sheer volume. The blue tarp seen in these pictures hides the former "gangway" access to the fire escape, while the clear plastic protects the new elevator shaft. The cinder block addition is the future new entrance to the apartments on the first and second floor and the offices on the third -- eventually, we will cover the cinder blocks in yellow brick to match the building's facade on Garden Street.
This is an enormous undertaking! It is also one we couldn't have taken without funding from the State of Connecticut Department of Economic & Community Development and the support of Representative Matt Ritter.
How much for fun is this? The gingerbread version of 1 Imlay Street now resides at NINA's offices, and so we are able to present now a much, much closer look at this masterpiece of the culinary arts. The team that put this together did an extraordinary job, and we're pretty sure it was robbed of its deserved victory at the auction!
First of all, it’s official: last year’s Caroling in the Park was the first annual Caroling in the Park! We had another good event with another good turnout this year, and we had loads of fun. I will confess, though, that I still don’t get the whole elf on stilts thing. Also, this year’s Santa (me) was the worst Santa ever! He promises (swears!) he’ll never do this again.
Mike Marshall at Aetna informed us today that the gingerbread version of 1 Imlay Street came in second place at Aetna’s charity auction, with a bid of $250. The $250 will go to Hartford Habitat for Humanity as a charitable donation. Just one more example of how much non-profit peers and our corporate partners can accomplish together!
One of our members, Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center, is giving us property for Christmas! 115 Sigourney Street and 117 Sigourney Street have long been part of the City of Hartford's Lead Abatement Program. A non-profit that managed the program had its offices on the first floor of 115, and then the second floor of 115 and all of the units in 117 were temporary living quarters for Hartford families whose apartments required lead remediation, since that work can be so toxic that no one without EPA-approved gear should be around it. The City recently decided to go in a different direction for its lead abatement program, so the non-profit closed up shop, and Saint Francis Hospital, the owner of the buildings, was left wondering what to do with them. Naturally, they thought immediately of us!
We don't know much about the buildings yet, but as we start to plan for their restoration we will quickly learn a lot. We didn't want to keep you from your first view of them, though! They are so early in our pipeline, we haven't even been inside yet.
How cool is this? Our executive director came across this today, 1 Imlay Street rendered in gingerbread by a group of Aetna employees. Their project is part of a charity auction that will be held to raise money for local Hartford non-profits.
Aetna employees have been walking by our work at 1 Imlay for quite some time now, and we're very pleased that our work has inspired them.
One of the people who stopped by for the open house today was Karen Pannone, architect with Clohessy Harris & Kaiser. After our bosses came to their agreement on the height the windows should be, Karen was dispatched to meet me and to take the measurements for the third floor windows. So, while I may have been the measure, it was really Karen who set the standard!
Photo by Bernie Michel.
We didn’t hold an open house for 1 Imlay because we were under contract long before we finished the house, so today, in partnership with the new owners, we opened the house to our friends and neighbors from Asylum Hill.
About 75-80 people attended, and most of them, including two descendants of the original homeowner, were Aetna employees. This was a great opportunity for us to show off the house and talk about our future plans for the Nook Farm section of Asylum Hill.
Aetna’s support and contributions to this project have been invaluable, and we are extremely grateful that Aetna continues to be such an active partner with us in the revitalization of Asylum Hill.
Since we were hosts, we weren't able to take any photos, but Bernie Michel was able to swing by and snap some pics as we were setting up for the shindig.
