One developer polished a diamond in the rough—and transformed an entire section of town in the process. By Layla Schlack

Quaker Green’s lifestyle
amenities include a pool
with a sundeck.

It’s one of those picturesque New England towns that has it all: great schools, a blossoming downtown, proximity to a thriving city and beautiful green spaces. And like most of those towns, West Hartford had a dowdier side; Elmwood was once a mostly residential neighborhood dotted with low-end shopping centers that had crumbling façades. That is until the Valhalla, N.Y.-based Ginsburg Development Companies took an interest in a former school building and set to work designing Quaker Green, an impressive new condominium development.

Rob Rowlson, business development officer for the Town of West Hartford, says Quaker Green has helped revitalize the whole area—and construction was only recently completed.

“We have already witnessed a tremendous upsurge in business development in the Elmwood area,” he says. “We are on the verge of opening our second grocery store later this year.” ALDI and Price Rite are the first national chains in years to build in the area.

So what’s so great about Quaker Green? For starters, it’s “easily the best new condominium, dollar for dollar, occurring in the region at this time,” Rowlson says. With apartment-style units in the former Talcott Junior High School as well as townhouses, the complex appeals to families, young professionals and empty-nesters, according to Martin Ginsburg, founder and principal of GDC. It’s a short commute from downtown Hartford, and walking distance to shops and restaurants—but he says the location isn’t the only draw.

West Hartford has seen a boom in business development thanks to new condominiums like Quaker Green.

“We have good prices and beautiful design, but really, it’s the outdoors,” Ginsburg says. GDC boasts that it spends as much solely on landscape design as other developers do on all landscaping, and strives to make each property blend into its surroundings. Two of its developments have won the National Association of Home Builders “Best Landscape Design” award. For Quaker Green, the landscaping will include a “village green” surrounding an outdoor pool and a walking path to Beachland Park.

In another show of commitment to nature, Ginsburg says he is trying to revive the elm trees from which Elmwood got its name, which were wiped out by Dutch elm disease in the 1940s. GDC purchased 13 disease-resistant elms.

While the area’s natural growth isn’t hindered by hard financial times, economic growth most assuredly is—except, apparently, in Elmwood. “It really does continue,” Rowlson says. “The largest shopping center right next door to [Quaker Green] is just finishing about six months of renovation to their property, which was started in bad economic times, too.”

With 12 out of 20 condo units and half of the townhouses sold or under contract as of July, and business booming in Elmwood, there may be hope in an otherwise faltering real estate market.

“We’ve seen significant other investment in properties in and around the Quaker Green development as a result of their investment,” Rowlson says. And just as importantly, it’s designed as a walkable center that blends seamlessly into the neighborhood to maintain the classic New England feel that has kept the area strong all these years.

ELM STREETS

During the Revolutionary War, 13 elms, representing the 13 colonies, were planted in Elmwood in celebration of the Americans’ victory at Saratoga in 1777. After the war, more elms were planted up and down Elmwood’s two main thoroughfares, New Britain Avenue and Newington Road. They survived until the 1940s, when Dutch elm disease wiped them out.

BLUE BACK: IN THE BLACK

A downtown development is the talk of the town.

Unlike Elmwood, West Hartford Center has always been hopping, with international restaurants lining pedestrian-friendly streets.
Blue Back Square, a new high-end live-work-play development, was a natural fit.

Rob Rowlson, business development officer for the Town of West Hartford, says it is mostly empty-nesters buying the condos, often as second homes.

“Its real appeal is its design and its very special location right in the heart of a retail setting, with 150 different shops and stores, a library adjacent to the complex, a five-screen movie theater as part of the immediate development, and a nearby sports and athletics club, which members of that condominium association automatically get a membership to,” Rowlson says. “These units continue to sell.”