Super Saver

A feature by Penelope Green, A Super Super (He's a Super Saver) Buys a Co-op, was published yesterday on The New Tork Times. It tells the story of the humble beginnings of Maltese emigrant Sam Vassallo who used his skills as a carpenter, electrician and plumber over 16 years to save enough money to buy a luxury $1.45 million apartment in Manhattan. From yesterday's New York Times:

..Mr. Vassallo, however, had been saving assiduously since he moved to New York from Malta 16 years ago. "I always had the thought to buy an apartment," he said, explaining a bank account that reached a very healthy balance before the purchase of this apartment last year. "It's not hard, you know," he continued, smiling at a visitor's raised eyebrows. "I've worked at least two jobs and 80 hours a week from the beginning."..

He met Ms. Vassallo in Malta in 1998, home on one of the rare vacations he allowed himself. "In the beginning, when you first come to New York," Mr. Vassallo said,"you want to earn money and go back to Malta. It changes, though, because you get used to the life." Ms. Vassallo added, "And then it's too quiet for you back home." He and Ms. Vassallo were married in 2000 - four residents from 131 Riverside attended their wedding in Malta - and she moved into the small, dark one-bedroom super's apartment Mr. Vassallo had been living in since 1994..

His first five years here, he said, he worked as a handyman from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at a building on East 87th Street, and then as a doorman from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. at another building, on East 32nd. Sleep was confined to the hours between 5 and 10 p.m. He lived with a friend on West 89th; in exchange for rent, he took out the garbage and performed other maintenance for that building. Two days a week, he worked as a security guard. "I was single, I didn't buy clothes or spend a lot on food," he said. "I would never put down $6 for a sandwich, or eat at a restaurant. Now, of course, it's a different story."..

You wonder, what is it about the arid island between Sicily and Tunisia that makes such extraordinary craftsmen? Mr. Vassallo shrugged and twinkled a bit. Malta also provided the beveled glass for his six French doors (that's 90 pieces of glass). A Manhattan estimate was $5,000; a Maltese supplier came in at $1,500. Mr. Vassallo has put the remainder of his savings into this renovation - which was completed this month - an amount that includes materials only. All the work - the carpentry, plumbing and wiring - was done by Mr. Vassallo. His taste is refined and luxurious, judging from the wine fridge, the second oven, the Bosch and Viking appliances, and the new parquet floor with its Harlequin border, all laid in by Mr. Vassallo...

Tjic calls Vassallo 'a middle class socialist brat'