Over the 24 years of their relationship, Joseph Vitale and Robert Talmas have let their jobs dictate their actual property selections. Work moved them from New Jersey to New York to Boston and again to New York. Mr. Talmas, now the top of compensation and advantages for WW (previously Weight Watchers), spent a quick stint in Singapore. However as their household grew, these priorities modified.
“We’ve all the time purchased or rented for work,” stated Mr. Vitale, a reinsurance dealer. “Once I labored on the World Commerce Heart, we lived in Battery Park Metropolis. Once I labored at Madison and twenty third, we moved to Gramercy. However this time, we rented for household.”
In December 2021, Mr. Vitale, 53, and Mr. Talmas, 51, moved from a rented two-bedroom in Gramercy Park to a three-bedroom in a new-construction high-rise in Downtown Brooklyn. Their 8-year-old son, Cooper Talmas-Vitale, had begun attending Mary McDowell Mates College in Cobble Hill; Mr. Talmas’ 93-year-old father, David, had additionally moved in with them in the course of the pandemic.
With each fathers working from house, their once-comfortable residence had turn into overcrowded: Jokes abounded once they needed to take convention calls in a closet. Cooper’s day by day commute to highschool — with considered one of his fathers or his nanny — ate away at potential household time. They wanted more room, and for the primary time in 24 years thought-about a transfer to a different borough.
Mr. Vitale and Mr. Talmas had lengthy been staunch Manhattanites. “We thought we had been too good for Brooklyn,” Mr. Vitale stated with fun. “When our associates moved to Brooklyn, we made enjoyable of them.” Years in the past they’d briefly sublet the Park Slope brownstone residence of a not too long ago divorced buddy, however missed the comfort of a doorman and the benefit of their Manhattan commutes in the course of the six-month stretch.
For Cooper, nevertheless, commuting to highschool in Brooklyn meant he typically couldn’t see his associates on the weekends, or settle for off-the-cuff invitations to play dates at after-school pickup. “Cooper selected his college right here in Brooklyn, and he labored exhausting to get in,” Mr. Talmas stated of his son’s efforts to get good grades and full an utility interview. “So we needed to be appreciative of that.”
Early final fall, the household’s landlord in Gramercy informed them she needed to promote. They’d proper of first refusal, and would have thought-about shopping for it in the event that they hadn’t wanted a 3rd bed room to accommodate Mr. Talmas’ father. Quickly they started their residence search, which they centered in Brooklyn. Mr. Talmas needed to think about some brownstone flats, however walk-ups had been difficult for his dad, and Mr. Vitale was insistent on a full-service constructing, which might additionally imply elevator entry for his father-in-law.
The residence they ultimately selected, at One Boerum Place, was the primary they discovered, and the primary they checked out. “I walked in and stated, let’s take it,” Mr. Vitale stated. Nevertheless, Mr. Talmas reminded him that they’d six different buildings to see that day. They ultimately conferred with Cooper, who most popular a trendier high-rise whose duplexes boasted spiral staircases — not notably kid-friendly. Mr. Talmas had his eye on a prewar, renovated constructing within the neighborhood. However the emphasis on family-friendliness at One Boerum Place swayed their choice.
The constructing was initially constructed as condos, however administration determined to hire out the models as an alternative due to the pandemic-damaged actual property market. The flats due to this fact have condo-caliber fixtures: Mr. Vitale, an avid prepare dinner, loves his full gasoline vary. “Everyone who sees the wooden paneling says, ‘Oh, did you customise your kitchen?’ And I’m like, possibly!” Mr. Talmas stated jokingly.
Different facilities abound: Cooper loves the pool. This summer season, there shall be two totally different inexperienced areas on the roof; an automatic storage, nonetheless below building, will permit them to make use of an app on their telephones to summon their automotive.
$9,300 | Downtown Brooklyn
Robert Talmas, 51; Joseph Vitale, 53; Cooper Talmas-Vitale, 8
Occupations: Mr. Talmas is the top of compensation and advantages for WW (previously Weight Watchers); Mr. Vitale is a reinsurance dealer for Aon
D.I.Y. Decor: Mr. Vitale reworked an previous tv set right into a bar: “That’s my child. I went to an vintage store and I informed the man what I used to be doing with it, and he was devastated. When he dropped it off at my sister’s on Lengthy Island, he stated, ‘Please inform him to not change it to a bar.’ As a result of he’s a real antiques man.”
The neighborhood’s hottest journey present: “I like Stanley Tucci’s ‘Looking for Italy,’ and he simply made guanciale, which is pork jowl. Once I walked into the native meat retailer, Dellapietras, I stated, ‘Can I’ve two kilos of guanciale?’ And he stated, ‘What are the probabilities you simply watched Stanley Tucci? I’ve by no means had so many individuals ask me for guanciale!’”
Mr. Talmas’ father handed away a couple of weeks after the transfer, however whereas he was there with them, discovering caregivers was made even simpler because of the constructing’s central location. Mr. Talmas and Mr. Vitale had been grateful for the time he spent with them, and with their son: “Cooper acquired to develop up together with his grandfather,” Mr. Talmas stated, “and it was nice.”
Now, Cooper’s stroll to highschool is a breezy seven minutes. Mr. Vitale guesses that 80 p.c of his classmates reside inside a 10-minute stroll of their residence. He has joined a soccer league in Brooklyn Bridge Park, the place the household spends a variety of time. When requested what he thought in regards to the residence, Cooper supplied a right away two thumbs up and a large grin.
Even his dads have a straightforward commute from the brand new residence: Mr. Talmas goes into his workplace in Chelsea at some point every week, which takes him about 20 minutes; Mr. Vitale visits his workplace twice every week, which is simply 10 minutes away. He’s even thought-about strolling house from the Monetary District over the Brooklyn Bridge in the summertime. Each nonetheless do business from home more often than not, so that they have transformed the third bed room right into a shared workplace. When considered one of them takes a name, the opposite strikes to the kitchen island or Cooper’s bed room somewhat than the closet.
Whereas the couple has owned in New York earlier than, they’re having fun with the flexibleness that renting permits. “Joe has all the time been a renter,” Mr. Talmas stated of his husband. “I might somewhat plant roots, however these days, particularly within the metropolis, renting’s simply a part of life. And in a constructing like this, renters don’t deal with it like they’re transients — all people on this ground is a household. They’re not transferring out subsequent 12 months.”
Renting now additionally permits them to plan for his or her subsequent huge transfer: Mr. Vitale, whose grandparents emigrated to New York from Sicily, is making use of for his Italian citizenship. After they retire and Cooper goes away to school, they hope to purchase, construct, or renovate in Sicily.
Till then, their household is a trio of Brooklynites. Mr. Vitale has already fallen in love with a couple of native butcher retailers; he’s even realized the most effective instances to go to the close by Dealer Joe’s, whose Manhattan places had been often so busy that he often stayed away. After so a few years of rejecting the borough, he stated, “the most important slap within the face is, we love Brooklyn now.”