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After my usual searching of old posts in the forum, I got the sense that Brighton Heights (especially the northern section) is generally good neighborhood. A stable, good neighborhood. When I mentioned to a friend that I was thinking about looking in Brighton Heights for a home, she gasped and said, "Oooooh. Not good." She eventually back-pedaled and said maybe she had outdated information, but it was a really negative reaction.
On Sunday, I drove around Brighton Heights a little - mainly in the area around California Ave, Termon Ave, and Brighton Road - and the side streets around those roads. And it looked a heck of a lot like the nice little side streets of Highland Park (near the park). Houses looked well kept, fairly big in size, nice yards, people out walking their dogs, etc. As I drove into parts of Bellevue and Avalon (areas my friend reacted to a bit more positively), I thought the houses looked a little less well-kept, on the whole. I realize my driving was not exhaustive and it may be block-to-block, time of day, etc. But I mostly felt confused.
So, I'm looking for more insight, especially from those who know the area well. What's the deal? Good, bad, ugly. With Brighton Heights, Bellevue, Avalon - that whole area... Any parallels to East End neighborhoods that I am more familiar with, perhaps?
I've lived in the East End for the last two years, and feel clueless about this northern area. I'm looking to buy - and since location is the thing you can't change, uncertainty around a new neighborhood makes me nervous. That area along 65 has a lot of upsides in theory - the commute to downtown, the "suburbs in the city" feel, and the value (compared to the East End). But if that value is because the neighborhood is scary (like my friend implied), then it's not a value. If the value is because it's not trendy, then I'm cool with that.
I moved to the Northside a year and a half ago after several years of living in the East End.
Your initial sense of Brighton Heights was correct. Your friend was very wrong. Ask her if she's spent any time at all in the neighborhood. I'm guessing she hasn't. Nothing about Brighton Heights is scary, not even a little, in my opinion. There's more crime in Bloomfield. The comparison to Highland Park is actually pretty decent. It's safe, nice and pretty dang quiet compared to the East End. I'm still kind of surprised by how quiet it is.
You are also right on the money in determining that (most of the Northside, certainly Brighton Heights) is not trendy with younger folks (I'm also mid-twenties). There aren't many people my age around here. It was an adjustment coming from Bloomfield and Lawrenceville because of the quietness and lack of nightlife. At this stage in my life, it was a pleasant adjustment. It's a great area.
I bought a home, for what it's worth. I started looking in the East End, but expanded my search to pretty much every neighborhood of the city within 10 miles of downtown because I didn't want a rowhouse, and that's all I could afford in the East End. Once doing that, I really felt drawn to the Northside. A year and a half later, I can say that it's been the best decision I've made in my life, so far.
If you have any specific questions, fire away. There are other forumers who live in this part of the North Side, and I guarantee they will give you positive comments as well.
I recently bought a house in Brighton Heights and am pretty happy with the area. It's certainly not trendy, as you noted, but it's not a dangerous ghetto or anything either. It reminds me of Regent Square without the hype. Both are 3 or 4 miles from downtown, mostly comprised of single family detached homes from the same era, and they both are safe but in "bad" school districts. They also both have tiny business districts, although Regent Square's is much more active and a little larger. Basically, I think there are 3 reasons that Brighton Heights isn't more in demand.
1.) Schools. From what I gather, Morrow Elementary is acceptable, especially since it's in walking distance for most people in Brighton Heights, but most people seem to find Perry less acceptable. St. Cyril is a private school alternative right in the neighborhood. I don't have kids, but I would be willing to at least give Morrow a shot when the time comes if I am still living here.
2.) Location. It is convenient to downtown and the north shore, but it is relatively far from Oakland and the rest of the east end/south side cluster of entertainment, education, shopping, and nightlife. As time goes on I think BH's location may become more desirable along with the rest of the north side.
3.) Walkability. BH is only semi-walkable. It's still pertty walkable, but it doesn't approach East End levels of walkability. From my house I can get to the Rite Aid, some pizza places, the laundormate/diner, barber shop, butcher shop, convenience store, coffee shop, wine & spirits, and 3 bus lines within a 5 minute walk. Increase it to 10 minutes and I can get to a 2nd barber and coffee shop, a beer distributor, a few bars, Miller's Seafood, and the Giant Eagle. There's certainly room for a few more businesses to move in on California or Brighton, though.
Basically it just comes down to what you want in a home and neighborhood. If you want to live some place really trendy and walk *everywhere* then BH is not your place, but if you want a safe neighborhood with a good amount of "everyday stuff" to walk to where you can reasonablly afford a house with a yard and garage, BH is definitely worth looking into. As far as crime goes, it's been a complete non-factor for me. For a while my house was clearly unoccupied and being worked on, and nobody broke in or stripped out the copper or anything like that. I regularly see some bicycle cops riding around the neighborhood, which i never saw in the east end.
I know we have a few posters who have bought in Brighton Heights, but my two cents.
Brighton Heights is absolutely not scary, and anyone who says it is is probably either very sheltered, or a tad bit racist and presuming that because black people live in the neighborhood, that must mean an inevitable downward slide is happening. Brighton Heights is by far the outer Northside neighborhood which has retained as much of the original neighborhood feel, with the most white children of school age in the North Side, for example (although they don't tend to attend the public school, which is shared with Marshall Shadeland, which leads the majority-black school to not perform as well, which causes a vicious cycle).
By impression is Bellvue has gotten shabbier because it started from a higher end. Basically the houses there were too grand for the modern market of homeowners in that region, so they're being chopped up and turned into rentals. In contrast, Brighton Heights is a lot more modest, and much of it was actually built up later than the core of Bellvue, meaning the housing is of a more manageable size.
In the longer run, I'm pessimistic about most of the outer Northside. At some point, the city is going to close the last projects in the region (Northview Heights and Allegheny Dwellings), as such projects have been steadily closed, both nationwide and in Pittsburgh. When it does, it will probably cause the downward spiral of a few other neighborhoods, similar to what happened with Sheraden in the West End, and to a lesser extent much of the Southern Hilltop.
However, I'd expect it will be focused elsewhere. Brighton Heights is seeing steady appreciation similar to Pittsburgh a large. Observatory Hill, in contrast, is falling through the floor in terms of recent sales prices, which leads me to think it's following in the footsteps of Perry Hilltop. Marshall-Shadeland is treading water, and could travel either way. And there's the possibility that neighborhoods like Spring Hill-City View, Fineview, Spring Garden, and Troy Hill might take a turn for the worse.
In the end, there's no neighborhood I expect is less likely to go bad in the outer Northside than Brighton Heights - with the exception of the really suburban part of Summer Hill north of Ivory Avenue.
2.) Location. It is convenient to downtown, but it is relatively far from Oakland and the rest of the east end/south side cluster of entertainment, education, shopping, and nightlife.
The majority of the metro really doesn't care about convenience to the East End.
It is pretty comparable to Highland Park, mostly the flat part of HP and northern East Liberty than the hillside of Highland Park. That's where the money is in HP. Brighton Heights is a mix of well maintained houses as well as original apartment buildings and houses turned into 2 or 3 units. The big difference between BH and HP, which is why it is almost half as expensive, is the convenience.
Hopes says that the majority of the metro doesn't care about the conveniences, but when you have them, they are hard to give up. BH doesn't have many businesses and doesn't border areas that do. HP has Bryant St which has really changed a lot for the better in the last 3 years. It also borders East Liberty and then Shadyside which are 1-1.5 miles away. Both are within walking distance and have 50+ restaurants to choose from, 4+ gyms, Whole Foods, Trader Joes, 2 Giant Eagles, an Aldi that is opening, 10+ banks, office buildings, bars, music venues, art galleries, some of the best coffee shops, pizza places, etc etc etc. I wouldn't want to be more than 1-2 miles from all of these amenities. I like being able to walk places.
Brighton Heights does have some businesses and also borders Riverview Park, which is probably the most underused city park of the 4 (Highland, Frick, Schenley and Riverview).
Brighton Heights is by far the outer Northside neighborhood which has retained as much of the original neighborhood feel.
During my recent house search one of my "finalists" was a home on Pemberton in Brighton Heights. The street and surrounding neighborhood were by far the best kept of any I looked at. The house needed more major repairs than I was prepared to make, otherwise I may have bought it. I liked the area a lot.
Quote:
By impression is Bellvue has gotten shabbier because it started from a higher end. Basically the houses there were too grand for the modern market of homeowners in that region, so they're being chopped up and turned into rentals. In contrast, Brighton Heights is a lot more modest, and much of it was actually built up later than the core of Bellvue, meaning the housing is of a more manageable size.
Another finalist was a home in Bellevue. I looked at other homes in Bellevue too. My realtor said that the borough (city?, town? I'm still not clear on the proper wording) was cracking down hard on dividing homes into rental units and required city inspections prior to occupancy to ensure that nothing had been changed. I didn't buy in Bellevue either so I may not have the inspection info exactly right, but I do remember being told that it was part of the sales process. I loved the house in Bellevue and the retail district nearby, but it had a postage stamp backyard and no off street parking, otherwise I probably would have bought it. My realtor felt that Bellevue was taking serious steps to revitalize the area and encourage owner occupied homes.
I saw houses in Ben Avon and Avalon too. I ended up buying in Crafton because the house there was the best fit for me, but I'm certain I would have been happy in any of the other areas. There simply wasn't the right house for me on the market at the time I was looking.
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that someone told lots of cops live in the part of BH where I was looking making it very safe.
Last edited by Goodjules; 01-14-2013 at 08:15 PM..
Reason: forgot to mention...
The majority of the metro really doesn't care about convenience to the East End.
Enough people care to drive up prices in the east end, that's all I really meant. Oakland is the 3rd largest employment center in the state, plus the universities mean there are a lot of students who want to live in the east end. Those two things are more than enough to create some increase in demand and price.
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