Eastern Land Management Wins Award for Urban Renewal

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From the Fairfield County Business Journal, September 17, 2022

by Edward Arriaza

Eastern Land Management (ELM) has recently been awarded the Silver Award of Excellence by the National Association of Landscape Professionals (NALP) for its renovation of Kiwanis Park, a placemaking and urban renewal project of Downtown Stamford’s Special Services District. In addition to Kiwanis Park, ELM was honored for developing a streetscape design in the heart of the downtown business district that included 250 hanging baskets, foliage containers and refurbished annual beds.

Founded in 1976 by Bruce Moore Sr., the Stamford-based company provides full-service landscaping and snow removal services and has 120 seasonal employees who work as landscape gardeners, landscape crew leaders, heavy equipment mechanics and plant health care technicians. According to Bruce Moore Jr., the son of the founder and ELM’s president, the company began “with a vision to maintain commercial properties in Westchester and Fairfield County” and later added New Haven County to its service area.

Moore knew he wanted to join the business when he was young, and immediately went to work for the company in 2005 upon graduating college.

“Growing up in the business, I really grew a liking to working with all the different people and working with horticulture and seeing what goes into the maintenance and snow removal of all these properties,” Moore said. “It was something that I always was passionate about.”

As a full-service land management company, ELM is able to act as a single-source provider for its clients, offering landscape management, water management and snow removal all in one.

“All those services are provided by our own personnel,” Moore said. “The customer has a single point of contact to use for pretty much the entire exterior of their facility.”

Among the services ELM provides for landscape management are turf fertilization, lawn mowing, tree and shrub pruning and integrated pest management. For water management, ELM provides troubleshooting and repairs, scheduled maintenance programs and system design and installation, among other services.

Moore believed that ELM’s award-winning work brought life to the underutilized Kiwanis Park, making it a “more welcoming, cleaner space.”

“What was originally just a cut through from lower Summer Street to Atlantic Street now is more of a place for people to sit, relax, hang out or have a conversation with friends, have a bite to eat and just in general socialize and mingle with people,” Moore said.

Though ELM has received accolades for its quality of work, it has still experienced its share of difficulties — the sharp increase in fuel and wages due to inflation has been felt acutely by Moore and the daily price fluctuations of material has required ELM to reach out to its vendors constantly in order to have up-to-date prices.

“We are working pretty hard every day to try our best to not pass off a lot of those increased costs to our customers,” Moore said. “We’re trying to manage it to the best of our ability, but we have had to make some adjustments over the last year to accommodate for all of the inflation on material prices.”

ELM has also dealt with labor shortages, facing some difficulties in recruiting people for its production teams. However, it had no issues in maintaining its workers the past couple of years and has even brought on board an employee relations coordinator to amplify employees’ voices. As a result, ELM has increased wages and implemented recruiting bonuses.

“We’ve made a big adjustment to ensure that we’re working really hard to become an employer of choice, and to make sure that we’re retaining our people,” Moore said.

Moore added that ELM will continue to keep its eyes on the changing weather and preparing for the first storm of the season.

“Right now, we’re working to allocate equipment and ensure that we have everything in place and prepared to go for the upcoming winter season,” he said.

Original can be found at Westfaironline.com: https://westfaironline.com/real-estate/eastern-land-management-wins-an-award-for-its-urban-renewal-work/

Photo: © PJ Kennedy

Meet ELM’s Silent Weapon in Climate-Positive Noise Reduction

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Silence is fueling a new era in operations at Eastern Land Management.

With the introduction of Gravely Pro-Turn® EV mowers, ELM will be rolling out electric mowers and battery-powered equipment to accelerate a long-term goal towards greater efficiency.

For JLL, a global leader in commercial real estate and property services, ELM will have 10-acres of turf on one of its properties in Westport, CT maintained by 50% electric by October 1, 2022.

ELM’s launch of EV is a continued expansion of a autonomous mower program that ELM began in trial phase several years ago, but has grown in impact and importance as ELM clients seek more clean energy options

Having more choices in electric, battery and alternative eco-power offer several advantages: they’re markedly more quiet and lighter in weight, and odor free. “We’re proud to align with leaders like JLL, not only to shape their ESG and sustainability strategy but to develop an action plan that helps us deliver on their green energy objectives,” said company president, Bruce Moore, Jr.

To learn more about how innovation can down the noise on your property, contact Bruce Moore Jr. at 203-316-5433.

 

Wildflowers Are Transforming Former Corporate Plazas.

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Corporate America has jumped on the perennial bandwagon, says Josh Thermer, area manager for Eastern Land Management. A former golf course superintendent from Lake Preston, CT, who joined ELM in September 2021, he now leads ELM’s turf-to-meadow conversion program, in addition to overseeing procurement for all plant material and turf and ornamental products out of ELM’s Monroe office.

To Josh, there is no irony in promoting meadows during April’s Lawn Care month, as lawns and turf grass, like all plant material, are in a constant state of renewal.

“Landscapes are naturally transformative,” says Josh. “From converting worn-out concrete plazas to an expanse of wildflowers to replacing underperforming turf with native grasses to swapping out thirsty plants for drought tolerant perennials, it’s all about doing what’s best for the aesthetics of the site, the needs of the client, and the health and performance of the environment overall.”

Perennials are a trend worth keeping, especially given the challenges Connecticut has faced with drought. Meadows, prairie-plantings, naturalistic landscapes, and eco-lawns are all versions of an ecological revolution that improves soil health and groundwater, and reduces the need for toxic chemicals. When the soil is healthy, it sequesters carbon, which, in turn, is climate-positive—a win-win for companies seeking to improve their sustainability, ESG and LEED metrics.

“Improving the way we conserve water, and the way we improve the way people experience the outdoors is what we do. But we’re also improving the quality of corporate life and view meadows as a tenant amenity. Sitting in a gazebo and watching pollinators and birds is more relaxing than sitting on a bench and looking at a lawn devoid of wildlife because nothing’s blooming,” Josh adds.

Currently Josh is on point for several major corporate projects and landscape transformations deferred by Covid. An expert in sports and performance turf, he says he looks forward to working with college and university athletic directors looking to up their game.

For questions on lawn care turf conversions, meadows or athletic fields, contact Josh at 203-316-5433.

 

 

 

ELM Expands into Westchester County NY, Opens Third Branch in Armonk

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Eastern Land Management is pleased to announce the opening of a new service facility in Armonk, New York.

The facility will serve as a hub to more effectively allocate resources for landscape and snow services across Westchester County’s commercial sectors, including office, retail, industrial hospitality, health care, and education. “By continually evolving our business and transforming how we engage with our commercial real estate clients, we’re creating opportunities to significantly improve how we create value in the decades ahead,” said Bruce Moore Jr., ELM president.

“Landscape firms have a huge role to play in improving the environment. We understand that with the growing demand to be more climate-positive, we need to work with business leaders who are  also looking for ways to translate sustainability into action. This means working together to find better ways to reduce risk, improve water conservation, and use technology to achieve greener outcomes.” ~ Bruce Moore Jr., President

ELM was founded in Stamford, Connecticut and has helped maximize portfolio value for the property and facility community of Connecticut and the greater New York metro area, including Manhattan and Westchester County, since 1976.

ELM is an active member of the Westchester County BOMA, Southern Connecticut BOMA, Bridgeport Regional Economic Development Task Force, and in 2019, received a ChangeMaker Award from Fairfield County for its efforts in conservation.

Bruce Moore Jr. is a recognized impact partner in his community and active on boards and non-profits. ELM received an Industry Leadership Award from Lawn & Landscape magazine in 2018, and multiple awards over the years from the National Association of Landscape Professionals for its excellence in commercial landscaping.

To learn more, contact Bruce Moore, Jr. at (203) 316-5433.