On Dec 11, 1966, after three years of wrangling with various individuals and agencies to realize their dream, they held the ribbon cutting ceremony, officially opening 1 Dixwell Plaza.

It was the first new dwelling built in the Dixwell area by private individuals in 100 years. In a retrospective of the project, my father wrote that it was envisioned "as part of the renaissance of lower-Dixwell Avenue."

It was a disaster.

From the beginning the FHA office in Hartford was uncooperative. They never warmed up to the deal, slowed progress with interminable bureaucratic inefficiency, and imposed restraints that severely restricted income.

My father and mother had to hire a number of consultants to assist them: lawyers, an architect, contractors, building management personnel and others. The scope of the project was way beyond what they were familiar with.

1 Dixwell Plaza, circa 1967.

The problems started immediately. On the bare area that would later become the plaza, a drainage problem developed. Melting snow and ice flooded some of the ground-level apartments and the basement where the furnace was. The problem recurred the next winter. After five years and a threat of legal action, the city finally put in a sewer connection.

City representatives had verbally promised a property-tax subsidy, until the project became profitable. Instead property taxes steadily rose. First year taxes were about $5000 on $42,000 gross income. By 1974, my father was paying $13,500. on a projected gross of $45,000.