Give kids an inch and they’ll take a mile. But what do they do when you give them a screwdriver? Well, if they are anything like Kurt A. Prochorena, they would dismember appliances, investigate them, and then reassemble them — almost.
“I was one of those kids that loved to take things apart and put it back together,” said Prochorena, newly appointed director of land development for Connecticut at BSC Group in Glastonbury. “I couldn’t always get it back together, though.”
His affinity for (dis)assembling parts led him to Norwich University in Vermont where he received his bachelor of science degree in engineering in 1990.
As a consulting engineer, he focuses on the site rather than the development of the building. When working with a property, Prochorena addresses zoning, permitting, surveying, wetlands, easements and topography issues.
When evaluating a site, he takes into consideration factors from where to place drainage systems to aesthetics, calling in related professionals when necessary, such as landscape architects.
As director, Prochorena puts together project teams, oversees the civil engineering functions and quality control. His role even includes business development, technical work and managerial functions.
He said it is difficult balancing the latter three, but “none of the three are any less important.”
The ever-changing scenery and the variety of clients and projects keep Prochorena reporting to work with enthusiasm. Headquartered in Boston, BSC does work from Maine to Virginia, with the goal to eventually span down the entire East Coast.
Prochorena has been in the land development sector for 16 years, most recently with Tighe & Bond in Middletown for about six years. He has been with BSC for about a month and already has plans that go beyond site work.
“As an associate of the firm currently, my goal is to become a principal,” said Prochorena, 39.
“I was very intrigued by the type of work and the fact that [BSC has] full service capabilities was very attractive.”
What’s not attractive is the growing trend of urban sprawl, here and across the country. The challenge, said Prochorena, is “trying to make sure that areas that are already developed still represent viable development opportunities.” Businesses and developers see suburbs as more attractive to develop because they have big pieces of land and more parking available. In many cases, parking availability is a sticking point in downtown development, not just in the case of Hartford, but coast to coast.
Suburban development leads not only to urban sprawl, but to vacancies in the city, which in turn effects a variety of other issues.
But at the end of the day, Prochorena returns home to his wife and three children in Colchester, where urban sprawl hasn’t hit just yet.
Amanda Blaszyk is a staff writer for the Hartford Business Journal.
