Bradley Nitkin, March 29, 2009
Published in GreenwichTime on Mar. 31, 2009
BRADLEY NITKIN 62 of Greenwich, CT died on March 29, 2009 after a courageous battle with gastric cancer. Beloved husband of Helen Nitkin, father of Sophie and Andrew, son of Gaby Nitkin and brother of Roger, Leslie and Regina. Bradley graduated from Yale College and Cornell Law School and became a successful owner and developer of Real Estate through his company The HB Nitkin Group. His loss has been felt by many but leaves a legacy of greatness behind him. Gifts can be made to The Gastric Cancer Research Fund c/o Dr. Manish Shah at MSKCC, 1275 York Avenue, NY 10065
Published in the Hartford Courant on January 20, 2017
Bradley Nitkin’s Vision, Tenacity Honored At Hartford’s Front Street
When Front Street developer Bradley Nitkin died in 2009, the project was still mostly a vision for connecting the riverfront to the rest of downtown.
Today, the restaurant and entertainment district is nearly all leased; an apartment building is all but fully rented; and the University of Connecticut’s new downtown campus is on track to open this fall. Construction is expected to begin on the fourth and final phase of Front Street — apartments and retail space — this year.
On Friday, Nitkin’s wife, Helen, unveiled and dedicated a plaque in her husband’s memory mounted near the entrance of the Front Street Lofts.
“We had done many real estate developments but this was a place where new ideas could be envisioned and real changes could be made,” Helen Nitkin said. “It was Brad at his most creative, and all his pistons were firing.”
Helen Nitkin co-founded Greenwich-based HB Nitkin Group and stepped in to lead it after her husband’s death from cancer. She took over in the midst of a deep recession: The entertainment district was completed in 2010, but it stood empty for nearly two years.
“We were not the first or second developer tackling the site, and it’s fair to say there were many naysayers, both fellow real estate professionals and the community,” Helen Nitkin said. “But tenacity and perseverance were qualities of Brad’s and our team’s.”
Friday’s ceremony was attended by about 30 people — family, friends, real estate professionals and state officials. The sound of construction at the UConn campus site was a constant backdrop.
The development of Front Street has unfolded differently than Bradley Nitkin first envisioned. For instance, the UConn campus is now going where apartments were first planned.
Would her husband have believed what exists at Front Street today?
“Yes and no,” Helen Nitkin said. “Yes, he was a person of great vision, and no, he wouldn’t have known how it would play out.”
See also this snippet on Brad’s leadership of the protest movement against the first plan for Cross-Campus Library in Pedagogy and Place: 100 years of Architecture At Yale.
See, further, this article reporting on the posthumous completion of his UConn project in downtown Hartford.
[in_memoriam_closing]
Bradley Nitkin, known to all his friends as Brad, passed away prematurely in 2009, at the age of 62. His lifetime was full of love and achievement. He and his wife Helen, created a warm family and a very successful business.
Our friendship blossomed during three weeks of summer vacation between our freshman and sophomore year. I was an Israeli at loose ends in New York. He invited me to be a guest at his parents’ home in Purchase, New York. Those weeks transformed what had been a lonely and dreary period for me into a vibrant and exciting vacation. Brad gave me a firsthand taste of what an American college vacation was all about.
During the next three years, Brad and I shared classes, football weekends, road trips to Vassar and Smith – the Yale experience. He went on to law school at Cornell, joined the law firm Weil, Gotshal and Menges, and then started his own firm Nitkin, Alkalay, Handle and Robbins.
Brad had a strong interest in real estate, and so did Helen. Together they founded HB Nitkin. Their partnership produced a powerhouse, with significant investments in Connecticut and New York. Helen and their son Andrew now run the company.
Over the years, Brad and I never lost touch. We saw one another often, at class reunions, on my trips to the US and his to Israel. He retained his keen sense of humor, his unassuming wit and his deep interest in others. We were close friends for forty years, a friendship I cherished. His life ended far too soon, but it was a rich and satisfying one. He lives in the memories of Helen, his children Sophie and Andrew, and his many friends.