Arlington Heights?? (Pittsburgh, St. Clair, Manor: apartment, crime, townhouses)

[kiggis13]

I was doing a little joy riding through the Southside Slopes (for the view) coming back from Oakland this morning. I ended up driving through that loop of a street that goes through Arlington Heights (I believe its called Devlin St.). Anyways, once I got past the projects I noticed a large space of overgrown empty land that is fenced off and says it is the property of the city of Pittsburgh. What's the point of this. Were there previously other projects there? Is that neighborhood dangerous as say, St. Clair Village?? Just curious.

[Geeo]

I recently discovered that area as well on my way to a party on the other side of that hill. That vast open space with the terrific view was in fact a huge 1940s style public housing complex that was torn down several years ago. The neighborhood right past it is an old-style Pittsburgh neighborhood with well-kept houses and some new housing. The ride back down the hill at night on Josephine Street has incredible views of downtown and Oakland.

[dannythekid]

Here is a 1995 Top-Down view courtesy of Microsoft Terraserver. You can see the housing complex that is now gone...

Interesting find, my girlfriend lives near hear and I never noticed the abandoned lot.

Microsoft TerraServer Imagery

[kiggis13]

Anybody know why this was torn down? Too much crime?

[luvlee]

Thankxxx for posting this image. I was born and raised in the burgh and have been gone now for twelve years, haven't been back since; so it's very nice to see pics of my old stomping grounds.

[Chicoco17]

It's happening in cities all over America...They R demolishing those huge old 30s-40s style fortess/prison-like housing projects & rebuiling them as townhomes & single-family dwellings.....In Pittsburgh, they tore down Mckees Rocks Terrace, Terrace Village, BraodHead Manor, & others.....When they rebuild, they change the name of the developement & sometimes even the street names, cuz the names of the projects & the streets have become synonymous with crime & urban blight....Even out in my area, they demolished the Morgan Hill housing project....They havent rebuilt yet, but they did change the street name....But Arlington Heights was massive & intimidating 2 drive thru....They left several of the buildings at the bottom of the hill going towards Josephine, at the end of Arlington Avenue....

[Herodotus]

Arlington was built as a war project in the early 40's. The top section, (about 75% of the total complex) was torn down about 6 years ago. There are about 8 buildings left. Arlington was all 3 story apartment buildings. No rowhouses. Arlington never had as bad a rep as St. Clair. St. Clair has also been depopulated. I'd guess that about 60% of the units are gone, including all of the large apartment buildings, (one still stands, used by the Housing Authority for storage, 2 more had their third floors removed, and were converted to townhouses, while 2 two story walk-ups still stand. One is empty, and the other contains the administrative offices). Of the rowhouse units that still stand, I'd say 30% are vacant.

[Katiana]

Originally Posted by Herodotus

Arlington was built as a war project in the early 40's. The top section, (about 75% of the total complex) was torn down about 6 years ago. There are about 8 buildings left. Arlington was all 3 story apartment buildings. No rowhouses. Arlington never had as bad a rep as St. Clair. St. Clair has also been depopulated. I'd guess that about 60% of the units are gone, including all of the large apartment buildings, (one still stands, used by the Housing Authority for storage, 2 more had their third floors removed, and were converted to townhouses, while 2 two story walk-ups still stand. One is empty, and the other contains the administrative offices). Of the rowhouse units that still stand, I'd say 30% are vacant.

Interesting. Those projects were part of my territory when I was a visiting nurse there in the early 70s. The above was a little trip down "Memory Lane".