Hope For Asylum Hill Unfolding “One Dwelling At A Time”

This two-family house on Sargeant Street in Hartford's Asylum Hill was acquired recently by the Northside Institutions Neighborhood Alliance for rehabilitation. Photo by Kenneth R. Gosselin/The Hartford Courant.

My colleague Susan Campbell’s column today examines efforts to revitalize the Asylum Hill neighborhood in Hartford, focusing on the work of the Northside Institutions Neighborhood Alliance.

“Enter a scrappy, nonprofit organization, Northside Institutions Neighborhood Alliance (NINA), which since 2004 has been resurrecting some of Hartford’s older housing stock in the Asylum Hill neighborhood. Through a unique partnership with other nonprofits, volunteer and apprentice construction workers, and a rigorous collection of available grants, NINA is bringing Asylum Hill back, one dwelling at a time.”

NINA plans to the rehabilitate this house on Ashley Street in Hartford, which still retains much of its original woodwork. Photo by Kenneth R. Gosselin/The Hartford Courant.

Ken Johnson, NINA’s executive director, told me this morning that NINA has rehabbed 15 properties since 2004 — including a former “Perfect Six” on Atwood Street that preserved the original facade but completely rebuilt the rest of the structure.

NINA is in the midst of rehabbing the two-family house at 156-158 Sargeant St. and recently acquired two other properties: 199-201 Sargeant St. and 55 Ashley St. NINA had been negotiating with the foreclosing bank on the Sergeant Street property for a couple of years.

The organization also is tackling its first “mixed-use” project, an apartment building with street-level retail at the corner of Garden and Ashley streets. It plans to spend as much as $1.2 million on renovations, beginning with the yellow-brick facade, dating from 1926.

The apartment building is considered key in Asylum Hill revitalization efforts because it is a heavily traveled commuter route and is one of the first buildings people see when they enter the neighborhood by way of Garden Street.