Over a 14-year career at New York City-based real estate development firm Tishman Speyer, Gregory Vaca worked on site selection, land acquisition and raising capital for projects in Europe and Brazil.
Eventually, he rose to the position of chief operating officer in Brazil, where his grandest project was helping oversee development of a 700,000-square-foot premiere office tower on Rio de Janeiro’s waterfront.
In 2020, Vaca left Tishman to move back to his native Connecticut with his young family. He has also launched Grava Properties, a real estate investment and development company focused on revitalizing village centers in Greater Hartford.
Grava’s work has begun with the acquisition of an aging Windsor shopping center on Broad Street that he is redeveloping into a mixed-use project with 124 apartments and office and retail space.
Vaca said a plant shop, bakery, real estate office, gift shop and café have been lined up as tenants for five first-floor retail spaces — totaling 5,700 square feet — in the development. The project’s first phase, which will include 70 apartments and the retail space, is expected to be ready for occupancy this summer.
The project is backed by a $3.2 million state grant, $250,000 in town funds and a 10-year property tax abatement.
In Enfield, Grava is seeking local permits to build a 156-unit apartment development on a 3.2-acre site that formerly hosted a carpet manufacturing plant. He hopes to eventually launch a second phase with roughly 150 additional apartments, along with restaurant and commercial space.
Vaca said he’s exploring “a couple” of additional village-center projects, but isn’t ready to disclose them until they are more developed.
“We are very aligned with the state’s goals for housing,” Vaca said.