Visits: 2
Yonkers wasn’t their first choice. It wasn’t even on their radar. But when Jonathan Rios, 28, and Saul Caguao, 31, both interior designers, decided to move in together, they knew finding an apartment that made financial and logistical sense wouldn’t be easy.
At the time, Mr. Rios was living on the Upper West Side and working in Chelsea, while Mr. Caguao lived and worked in Stamford, Conn.
Mr. Rios wanted to stay on the Upper West Side, where he had been paying less than $1,000 a month for a small, dark, courtyard-facing room in a three-bedroom apartment. “It had just enough space to center my bed and have two small side tables,” he said.
Surely, he reasoned, someone looking for a one-bedroom in the same neighborhood with a budget of $2,300 would be able to find something at least slightly more gracious?
“What I found in that price range was the smallest and the darkest: mostly older buildings with really weird layouts; not ideal, very cramped, with stuff like diagonal walls, which is not easy to decorate,” Mr. Rios said. “It was more than I wanted to spend for nothing remarkable.”
Mr. Caguao had never been particularly on board with the Upper West Side plan, given that it would increase his commute from essentially no time at all to a trek of more than hour involving the subway, a bus and a Metro-North train.
It was around that time that Mr. Rios went to visit a friend in Yonkers, which is immediately north of the Bronx, in Westchester County. A few years earlier, his friend had bought a condo off the Greystone stop of the Metro-North line, and before Mr. Rios returned to Manhattan, they swung by the friend’s brother’s place at Modera Hudson Riverfront, a new development on the banks of the Hudson River two train stops closer to Manhattan.
“I’d never considered Yonkers before,” Mr. Rios said. “But I loved his apartment. And I found the idea of living on the river charming.”
Before going home Mr. Rios stopped by the leasing office, where he learned that a spacious one-bedroom with an unobstructed view of the river would cost $2,350 a month. To move in, they would only need to put down a $500 security deposit, and they would get the first two months free.
Although Mr. Caguao had not accompanied him on the social call, he was amenable to the idea, which would mean a commute of about 40 minutes for both of them. “He sent me pictures and I was like, ‘O.K.,’” Mr. Caguao said.
They signed the lease on July 3, and the next day, a barge in the river set off a huge fireworks display, which seemed an auspicious start to their tenancy.
$2,350 | Yonkers, N.Y.
Jonathan Rios, 28, and Saul Caguao, 31
Occupations: Mr. Rios works for Denton House, a design studio in Chelsea, and runs his own design practice, Jonathan Vincent Design. Mr. Caguao is a claims manager for Wakefield Design Center, in Stamford, Conn., a company that sells custom and handmade furniture to interior designers.
On living outside New York City: When he finally moved to Manhattan after living in Brooklyn and Queens, Mr. Rios, a Connecticut native, said he would never leave again, “not even to visit friends in Brooklyn.” But then he saw what they could afford on their budget in Yonkers.
The unobstructed river view: Sold them on the apartment. But they wish that the waterfront sculpture garden outside their window did not include an enormous stone table flanked by very large, regal-looking heads that seem to be peering into their apartment.
Life in Yonkers, however, was not quite as idyllic as Mr. Rios had imagined.
“When you get off the train, you only see that cute waterfront area. The rest of the city is not so cute,” he said. “The first time I drove with Saul from Stamford to Yonkers, we got lost in the city and I was like, ‘What did I just do?’”
They also soon realized that there was not much in the way of dining options, let alone night life, within walking distance of their building. One of the few places nearby is a French-Asian fusion restaurant with entrees starting at around $30 — a nice spot for special occasions, but hardly what they considered to be a neighborhood standby.
“In Stamford, you can go out at night; Yonkers, not so much,” said Mr. Caguao, who moved to the United States from Venezuela two years ago. “That’s what I love about Stamford: lots of restaurants and going-out places.”
The obvious alternative was socializing mostly in Manhattan, which they had already planned to do a lot of anyway. The commute to the city is faster than it would be from many neighborhoods in the boroughs. But the last train home is at 1:50 a.m., so on late nights out with friends, they either have to rush back to Grand Central or cough up $80 to $120 for a car home.
Still, they quickly came to appreciate many features of their new building: central air-conditioning, an in-unit washer and dryer, a “surprisingly great” gym, a pool and a rooftop terrace.
There is also ample closet space in their apartment. “I keep saying, ‘I finally have space like a normal person,’” Mr. Rios said.
“And here, at night, there are no horns, no people yelling,” he added. “Just the sounds of crickets and waves.”
Decorating an apartment with lovely western light and no weird walls has also been a delight. Fortunately, they share a similar aesthetic.
“When we were picking the couch, he sent me five and we both liked the same two,” Mr. Caguao said. They have mixed less expensive acquisitions, like their $700 sofa, with pricier pieces they were able to buy at a discount from the design center where Mr. Caguao works.
The transition to Yonkers may not have been completely seamless, but Mr. Rios said he felt good about the city and their decision to move there.
Mr. Caguao laughed.
“Well, I don’t love the city itself yet, but I’m looking forward to changes,” Mr. Rios said. “I think Yonkers is going to become a lot more like Stamford in a few years.”
“Hopefully,” Mr. Caguao replied.
And in some ways, Mr. Rios said, it is as if he never left New York City.
“I’m still integrated into Manhattan life,” he said. “Going to the grocery store, for example: I just go to the Whole Foods in Chelsea, which is not really that much different than going to the one in Columbus Circle and taking the subway to the Upper West Side.”