"The house was just so big for us anymore,” says Joe Massaro, “and it was so expensive to maintain.” Including a swimming pool, tennis and bocce courts, a basketball court and four and one-half acres of yard, Massaro’s house was a grandkid’s dream, and a grandfather’s headache. The gas bill in the winter could range between $2,500 and $5,000, and upkeep was constant. “We talked with all three of our sons, and our daughter Linda, and none of them were interested in taking on the place.”

Still, Joe and Carol Massaro hadn’t really made any plans to move until their oldest son, Joseph Massaro III, brought them a brochure he’d seen for a new condominium, The Metropolitan, being built at the time in Shadyside. The building was being built by one of Massaro Corporation’s competitors, P. J. Dick Inc., with whom Massaro had built the Hillman Cancer Center in a joint venture. Intrigued by the neighborhood, Joe Massaro took a trip down to the job site one Saturday morning shortly after the project broke ground.

“As I looked around, I noticed one guy walking around looking things over as well, so I went up to introduce myself,” remembers Massaro. “I asked if he knew who I could talk to about buying one of the units and he said, ‘How about me?’” The ‘guy’ turned out to be Todd Reidbord, one of the owners of Walnut Capital Partners, the developer of the Metropolitan. Reidbord took Massaro to meet his partner, Greg Perelman, and the three began talking about what might work for the Massaro’s. Eventually choosing to acquire two units on the first floor, Joe Massaro turned his attention to the construction process. As a general contractor, Massaro wanted to have his people working on the condo. “I spoke with Cliff Rowe (P. J. Dick’s CEO), and he didn’t have any objection to our building out our own unit.”

With some of the big hurdles cleared, the Massaro’s turned their attention to the biggest decision: choosing to leave their home of 31 years. Joe Massaro remembers the difficulty. “It was a big, big decision to leave Oakmont.” Massaro illustrated the difficulty with a story. “One night we were just sitting there and I looked over and Carol had tears in her eyes. When I asked her what was wrong she said, ‘How can we leave? This is where we raised the kids. We have so many wonderful memories here.’ Massaro chuckled, “I told her to think about the years when all three boys were in high school. Not all the memories are so wonderful!”

Construction began on the unit around New Year’s 2007. Massaro Corp. manager of preconstruction, Michael Tarle, managed the project for the Massaro’s. He found out immediately that the most difficult part of the project was going to be figuring out how to get a lifetime of decorating into a space half the size. “The Massaro’s had a lot of furnishings and fixtures that were purchased on their travels to Europe and Italy,” says Tarle, “things like crystal chandeliers that had to be disassembled and taken to the new place.”Because the Hulton Road house had been expanded and updated, many of the furnishings and colors were recent choices, ones that the Massaro’s wanted to duplicate in their new home. The solution to figuring out how to downsize and keep all the furniture was to develop a furniture plan first. Gil Walsh, from the building’s architect Astorino, photographed every room in the Massaro’s house in Oakmont. Working with Carol and Joe Massaro to decide what furniture would not make the move, and what new furniture they had in mind, Walsh created a furniture layout that was then used to drive the build-out.

“Once the furniture plan was together, we could begin to lay out the floor plan, and decide where to place the outlets and plumbing,” notes Tarle. “We could then select colors and materials based on the fabric and furniture palate.” Here again, the Oakmont house was a guide, as the Massaro’s could point to paint colors and other details, even custom three-piece trim, that they wanted to duplicate in the new home. “At one point the Massaro’s had picked so many things they wanted from the old house, Mr. Massaro said, ‘You know Mike, I don’t know why I’m moving!’”

One factor that brought some comfort and familiarity to the project was using subcontractors that had forty-year relationships with the Massaro Corporation, including one contractorwho went back a little farther than that. Joe Massaro’s brother Gene operates Massaro Industries, a commercial tile contracting business. Gene Massaro installed the flooring and granite, Patrinos Painting did the painting and wallcovering, and Massaro crews handled all the carpentry and millwork. Butch’s Sound and Vision took care of the audio and video systems, and California Closets helped Carol Massaro design the
closet systems.

The project took six months to complete, and the Massaro’s moved in July 2007. Joe Massaro praised Michael Tarle’s work. “Mike did just an outstanding job running the project,” says Massaro. For his part, Mike Tarle knew the risk associated with designing the boss’s house, especially since he was also handling an 8,300 square foot addition and renovation of the Massaro Corporation offices during the summer of 2007. “I told (current president) Joe Massaro III that I was happy with 2007,” he says. “I did Mr. Massaro’s house and the office addition in the same year, and I was still here!”

For his part, Joe Massaro couldn’t be happier with the result or the lifestyle change. “We love the location, love the building, and love the people,” he says. “Now some of our friends are starting to move into the building and the neighborhood. We go up Craig Street a few nights a week for dinner, and we can walk to St. Paul’s or the oratory for mass.”

Massaro is also a proponent of new urbanism, although it sounds more like new neighborhood-ism. He says that the Walnut Capital people come by regularly to see that they are satisfied with the place. “I can’t tell you how happy we’ve been since moving to the Metropolitan. I grew up in an Italian immigrant neighborhood on Larimer Avenue, and we had everything we needed right there,” remembers Massaro. “We lived in Oakmont for 40 years, but we didn’t really live in a neighborhood in that big house. The Metropolitan is right in the middle of a great neighborhood, and the place is set up so that everything you need is close by.” NH