Realty Collective, a six-year-old Brooklyn-based residential firm, acquired Vita Real Estate, Crain’s reported. Vita, a 30-year-old real estate firm founded by Angela Vita and specializing in Carroll Gardens, will bring one of its two offices, at 296 Smith Street, to Realty Collective, while the 317 Court Street office will be managed by former Vita agents who are breaking off on their own. The acquisition comes 18 months after Realty Collective made a splash by purchasing Frank Manzione Real Estate, another longtime firm specializing in Brooklyn. Comments

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Michael Campbell at 65 Fen, a wine shop he opened in December in Prospect Lefferts Gardens.

From the March issue: Prospect Lefferts Gardens, the Brooklyn neighborhood that hugs the east side of Prospect Park (effectively mirroring Park Slope on the west), has been touted as an up-and-coming neighborhood for more than a few years now. But somehow it’s never quite caught on in the way that some other neighborhoods have.

Though the area is full of tree-lined streets dotted with well-priced limestone townhouses that sit back on their own lawns, there are only a few restaurants, cafés, boutiques and other stores to speak of.

“Amenities like restaurants and stuff [are] definitely sparse compared to other neighborhoods,” said Victoria Hagman, owner of Realty Collective and Manzione Real Estate. “But I think people are beginning to realize that it’s an untapped market.”

PLG residents, however, don’t seem interested in waiting for others to appreciate their “untapped market.” Instead, they are taking matters into their own hands, determined to help transform their neighborhood. [more]

Four year-old Realty Collective, a Brooklyn brokerage, has purchased Frank P. Manzione Real Estate, the veteran Red Hook/Carroll Gardens firm. Realty Collective will take over Manzione’s Columbia Street offices, though Manzione plans to stay on with his new colleague, 28-year-old founder Victoria Hagman, a former music industry booker who seeks out creative real estate agents who aren’t “creepy” and promises to walk her clients’ dogs. The merger tripled Realty Collective’s listings. “It’s like we bought the Yankees,” agent Tina Fallon said of the move. [Brownstoner] and [Brooklyn Based]