61-year-old confectionery is stranded by works in Perdizes – 08/06/2023 – Daily life

Son and grandson of Spanish immigrants from Catalonia, Jaime Gimbernau was 21 years old when, in 1987, he went to live in a townhouse on Rua Aimberê, in Perdizes. The confectionery that bears the family’s surname, opened 25 years earlier, in 1962, on Rua João Ramalho, very close, also moved there.

There were only houses on the street. The Gimbernaus wanted to build an extra floor on theirs, but were prevented by the city hall. Today, 36 years later, the pastry house is isolated between buildings and works: one of them, with almost 30 floors, has already been erected a few steps away, other land is being prepared for the same fate. 250 meters away, at full steam, is the construction site for the future Perdizes station.

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Jaime and his wife, Sueli —who live and work in the house, where the Gimbernau confectionery continues to operate— even received a proposal from a construction company to sell the property, they even negotiated values. It is said, however, that the owner of the house next door refused to sell hers, and the builder then gave up.

Resigned, they now hope that the radical verticalization of their neighborhood will be fruitful for them. “I wanted to sell because, although I like it here, on game or concert days [no Allianz Parque, ali perto] This is chaos, and it’s bound to get worse. and the pile driver [das novas obras] It’s terrible, it should be banned. But, if God wanted it that way, for something good it must be”, says Jaime.

“Apart from games and concerts, I only see positive aspects. Where there were few neighbors, there will be hundreds.” Sueli agrees. “Now it’s bad, it’s dust, it’s noise, but later it’ll be good, I think it’ll be beautiful, modern.”

Judging by the number of large buildings, the new neighbors in the region must number in the hundreds. In just one kilometer stretch of Rua João Ramalho between Rua Monte Alegre and Rua Aimberê there are five large new buildings announced, including one recently completed. The largest of all will occupy almost an entire block between Apiacás and Apinajés streets, 250 meters from the Gimbernau confectionery.

Sold by the builder and developer Cyrela, the apartments in one of the future towers (“Residences”) will have between 115 m² and 306 m², 3 to 4 bedrooms (2 to 3 suites), two parking spaces —most of them cost more than R$2 millions; in the other (“Apartments”), studios from 21 m² to 65 m² are offered, starting at R$ 430,000.

Cyrela is ahead of several new developments in Perdizes, including the largest future skyscraper in the region, with 42 floors and 150 meters high, on Rua Turiassu, another on Avenida Sumaré almost opposite the future Perdizes station and the building to be built on the land of a neocolonial mansion from the 1920s, listed on the corner of Rua Cardoso de Almeida and Rua Dr. Melon Man. According to the project, the historic property —partially destroyed by a fire last Friday (4th)— will be incorporated into the project.

Sought to provide information about her developments in the neighborhood and expose her expectations about the real estate boom in the region, Cyrela chose not to speak out.

Despite the hope of an improvement in business, the Gimbernau couple remember the Perdizes of the last century with nostalgia. Born and raised in those streets, Jaime reconciled the practice of judo from an early age (he reached a black belt, taught, won championships) with baking, taught by his father from the age of 8. He remembers his uncle telling him that where the Palmeiras stadium is located there was a pond, which he needed to cross to catch the tram on the current Avenida Francisco Matarazzo (formerly called Água Branca).

Sueli —who met her husband at the physical education college, which he abandoned and completed by her— regrets that many neighbors have moved to the area. “We knew everyone. What makes my heart sad is that today it feels like I live in a strange neighborhood.”

Today, in the midst of the construction frenzy in the surroundings, it is even difficult to notice, on the façade of the Aimberê townhouse, the discreet plaque —an actual old one as well as the establishment, not vintage stylized—announcing that there is a confectionery and ice cream parlor.

Inside, there are all kinds of sweet delicacies, with emphasis on typical Catalan recipes, such as Brazo de Gitano (roulade filled with whipped cream or vanilla cream, topped with burnt yolk), chayote (a type of bomb, but with brioche), bacon (a kind of quindim) and the classic catalá cream.

Jaime runs the production. At the age of 57, he became a less assiduous judoka, but continues, along with Sueli (she is more at the counter), in the sweet work every day, including Sundays and holidays. He doesn’t get flustered.

The confectioner only reveals astonishment with the profusion of new buildings and the values ​​announced. “I’ve never seen anything like this, it’s crazy, what is this going to lead to? 20 m² apartments for almost R$400,000, others of 100 m² for almost R$2 million. where there are so many people with so much money to buy.”