Thoughts on downtown living... (Pittsburgh, Washington: wages, price, shopper)

[Aqua Teen Carl]

Originally Posted by UKyank

You'd be lucky to get a run down studio apartment in many downtowns & this is for a nice 1 bedroom in a building with lots of amenities.

A few searches on the same site for Cincinnati and other similar towns will prove you wrong. I'm sure a NYC, Chicago, or LA price comparison will be brought up.

Apparently most livable city includes $1500 a month for a 1 bedroom in a ghostly downtown. Who knew?

[pman]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

To be quite honest, I don't know of another city that doesn't have a downtown grocery store. To me, it seems really odd. One has to wonder if Pittsburgh is really rare that way? The downtown is much quieter than lots of other parts of the city at night. That is kind of neat in a way. A big empty city to walk around. There are always places to go that are open. Some are cheap and some are very expensive. I like that. I cook a lot. I would imagine lots of city dwellers cook and buy groceries. I just don't think many live in the heart of the city. Not enough to justify a grocer down there with that high rent.

I think people in a many neighborhoods drive to the grocery store yet, for some reason, it's absurd to think people downtown would do it. per the article I posted on nola in anothe thread, they are doing far more business than they ever thought they'd do. it's odd to hear about people complain that someone is steering others to live downtown when they are doing the exact opposite.

[UKyank]

Originally Posted by Aqua Teen Carl

A few searches on the same site for Cincinnati and other similar towns will prove you wrong. I'm sure a NYC, Chicago, or LA price comparison will be brought up.

Apparently most livable city includes $1500 a month for a 1 bedroom in a ghostly downtown. Who knew?

I dunno, an upscale apartment in a newly constructed building, along the river looking across to pnc park with an in unit washer/dryer plus a nice fitness center, lounge with complimentary morning breakfast & attached parking in the cultural district downtown for 1500 seems like a decent deal to me if renting is your thing

[greg42]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

To be quite honest, I don't know of another city that doesn't have a downtown grocery store. To me, it seems really odd. One has to wonder if Pittsburgh is really rare that way? The downtown is much quieter than lots of other parts of the city at night. That is kind of neat in a way. A big empty city to walk around. There are always places to go that are open. Some are cheap and some are very expensive. I like that. I cook a lot. I would imagine lots of city dwellers cook and buy groceries. I just don't think many live in the heart of the city. Not enough to justify a grocer down there with that high rent.

In other cities, "downtown" would encompass a much wider area which would include the Strip, North Shore and perhaps South Side stores. So if you do a realistic area comparison, there would be stores in Pittsburgh's downtown. But there are rivers in the way.

There is something north of 400 new apartments about to come online with the current projects. This will drive demand somewhat more and I think will ultimately result in someone taking another stab at a grocery downtown.

[FreightTrainRunning]

Originally Posted by Aqua Teen Carl

A few searches on the same site for Cincinnati and other similar towns will prove you wrong. I'm sure a NYC, Chicago, or LA price comparison will be brought up.

Apparently most livable city includes $1500 a month for a 1 bedroom in a ghostly downtown. Who knew?

Prices are market driven and Pittsburgh is a hot rental market right now. If people didn't want to live downtown, then landlords couldn't get prices like that.

[Aqua Teen Carl]

Originally Posted by UKyank

I dunno, an upscale apartment in a newly constructed building, along the river looking across to pnc park with an in unit washer/dryer plus a nice fitness center, lounge with complimentary morning breakfast & attached parking in the cultural district downtown for 1500 seems like a decent deal to me if renting is your thing

Not sure about that place, but at most places parking is extra. In my opinion $1500 a month for a 1 bedroom in a city that is know for low wages throws the whole "livable" thing right out the window.

There are a number of old buildings that are being converted (like the old Verizon building) that are charging similar numbers. I work downtown and I've heard a few people talking about these places and they said the would never pay those kind of prices. I think these apartments will appeal to new arrivals to the city as Pittsburghers seem to think these prices are ridiculous.

[UKyank]

I kind of understand your point; I wouldn't nor see why someone would pay $1500 for a one bedroom downtown no matter the niceness or amenities when you could purchase (or rent) something much larger in a nice neighborhood in very close proximity to downtown with more supporting businesses within in easy walking distance -- but noneheless, there are some people that would choose to live in the heart of downtown, and for that, I think this offering at 1500 is competively priced and quite doable for someone with a half decent job downtown

Oh, and I think parking is includes for your first year, or at least that was the offer around when the place first opened.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

Rivers don't divide our downtown.

I think you are missing the point. If not for the rivers and ridges and ravines, our concept of "downtown" wouldn't be limited to Downtown as we know it.

Even if they did, we have so many bridges it is insane.

Correct, and you can easily walk across a bridge and get to the North Side grocery store. But you still don't consider that to be a grocery store in Downtown, which is my point.

[ML North]

Originally Posted by Aqua Teen Carl

Not sure about that place, but at most places parking is extra. In my opinion $1500 a month for a 1 bedroom in a city that is know for low wages throws the whole "livable" thing right out the window.

Not really. "Livable" does not imply that the most expensive real estate is affordable to everyone. Rather, the implication is that for the average person there are a variety of central neighborhoods that contain a variety of affordable housing options, which is certainly true in Pittsburgh.

Also, based on the extremely low residential vacancy rate in Downtown, it would be hard to argue that the going rental rates are overpriced.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Aqua Teen Carl

A few searches on the same site for Cincinnati and other similar towns will prove you wrong. I'm sure a NYC, Chicago, or LA price comparison will be brought up.

I don't know what you consider similar, but Denver is close in terms of overall metro size to Pittsburgh, and has a decent downtown.

Median list rent price per sqft in Denver's CBD is $2.22, according to Zillow. I didn't do all the math, but I'd suggest the median list rent price per sqft for Encore on 7th was around $1.60, give or take. That's a big difference.

Apparently most livable city includes $1500 a month for a 1 bedroom in a ghostly downtown. Who knew?

Seriously, $1500 a month for being in the CBD isn't going to strike people from most larger cities as a shocking amount--unless they think it is shockingly low.

Incidentally, there is actually a lot going on Downtown these days. Because of the huge work surge it will always have some of that semi-empty feel outside of work hours, but if you look at it terms of what you could actually do within walking distance, it is definitely one of the top few neighborhoods. Toss in a walking commute (or maybe easy reverse transit commute), and it is not at all surprising why it is commanding what counts as a premium for Pittsburgh.