Gissen promoted At Ginsbury Development

DANBURY — Ginsburg Development, LLC, has appointed Thomas Gissen of Newtown corporate executive vice president assigned to the company’s Connecticut Division.

Mr Gissen assumes responsibility for coordinating the overall management of the company’s Connecticut operations, including land acquisition and community design and development, with oversight management duties in sales and marketing.

“Thomas’ insight played an integral role in the creation and organization of this new division,” said Joe Novella, Jr, president of the two year-old Danbury-based division. “As a result, he emerged as the perfect candidate to fill the position. His hard work, extensive knowledge, and invaluable input during and following the origination process have proven him a vital asset to our efforts in Connecticut.”

Prior to his appointment as corporate executive vice president for the Connecticut Division, Mr Gissen spent several years as director of development for Ginsburg Development in its Hawthorne, N.Y., home office, managing teams responsible for the design and approvals of hundreds of homes in award-winning communities throughout Westchester County, N.Y. He has also served as city planner in Peekskill, N.Y., as an associate at Fredrick P. Clark Associates in Rye, N.Y., and as a land use planner for a firm in New York City.

Mr Gissen has a master of science in city and regional planning from Pratt Institute, where he received the Robert C. Weinberg award for Academic Excellence in Urban Planning. He also holds a bachelor of arts from Colombia University, and has affiliations with the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) and the American Planning Association (APA), Connecticut Chapter. Mr Gissen has coached youth basketball and soccer, and sat on the Housatonic Chapter Board of Trustees for Habitat for Humanity.

The Connecticut Division of GDC was formed in 1999 to expand the operations of Ginsburg Development, New York’s largest community developer, into the New England marketplace. GDC’s inaugural community, Redding Woods, recently received the HOBI Award for “Creative Site Design.” The 23-home clustered single-family community in Redding is now nearly sold out.

GDC is following up that success with Woodland Hills, a 252-town home community in Danbury that has recently broken ground, and the company has proposed communities in Farmington, Litchfield, and Newtown.