Suburb of the week: Sharpsburg (Taylor, Penn: how much, trendy, food)

[PreservationPioneer]

Originally Posted by Goinback2011

If there was a lot of demand for housing close to the city, developers would be buying up the old frame houses in Sharpsburg, tearing them down and building new. Same with Millvale. I watched this occur in many neighborhoods close to downtown Tampa. We're not there yet. Bringing Amazon to Pittsburgh would make that occur.

That sounds terrible. Millvale and Sharpsburg are historic neighborhoods, and many of those frame houses date to the 19th century. In Sharpsburg and Etna, the oldest homes date to the 1830s. Efforts should include restoration and preservation of intact neighborhoods like Sharpsburg and Millvale, not demolition and modern construction, unless necessary.

[PreservationPioneer]

Originally Posted by Goinback2011

Builders bought up entire blocks in West Tampa, one of the oldest parts of the city near downtown. Those homes were old, small and on small lots. In some cases, it took a few years to acquire the block. Each home bought would be torn down, and the lot would sit vacant.

This is why I have no desire to live in a city like Tampa. There is an urban movement that favors small and micro houses. The demolition of bungalows and row houses is short-sighted, in light of trends toward downsizing and small house living. Old, small houses are cool. Also, the trend of removing single family homes and replacing them with condo buildings takes away the opportunity for affordable home ownership in cities. New housing construction in urban neighborhoods is practically never made affordable to the working class. It's geared toward the high-end market or subsidized housing. If these trends continue, only the wealthy will be able to afford the urban core in the future.

[Goinback2011]

PreservationPioneer, the problem is poor people can't afford the maintenance on old houses. They are fire traps in that case and there really are lots of house fires in this region. The homes are almost always old, frame multistory homes.

In Tampa, an old home doesn't predate 1921, the year a Cat 4 hurricane produced a monster storm surge that leveled anything near the bay. Most of the "old" houses were built in the 1940/50s.

[gg]

Originally Posted by Tractor Face

"About a decade ago, things looked pretty bad for Sharpsburg. As Lawrenceville began to gentrify, a lot of the worse elements of "old Lawrenceville" - the drug-addicts, people with mental illnesses which should have been taken care of, etc - began relocating to Sharpsburg and the other Allegheny Valley river towns, like Millvale and Etna, which were just a short bus ride away from Lawrenceville. Over just the last few years though, it's become clear that Sharpsburg has now jumped on the gentrification train as well."


What added insult to injury was a very big flood that inundated Sharpsburg, Etna, Millvale and I believe Carnegie around 2005. Many businesses were more or less hanging on and this sent them over the edge. When the businesses never returned neither did certain workers and some established residents. I remember volunteering to help businesses get back on their feet in Millvale and it was just too much for many of them to claw their way back.


The proliferation of drugs in Sharpsburg and a far too small police force make it difficult to keep things nice. Just take a ride on PAT bus 91 from town through Aspinwall and you get a glimpse of each town, including Sharpsburg. Being in the Fox Chapel School District is probably what's keeping them above water and might be a good reason to invest there if you have the money.

Sharpsburg doesn't flood as much as some think. The flooding is more down by the 62nd St Bridge and here and there, but it isn't all that deep. Basements get hit and so-on but most of Sharpsburg's housing stock is really old, so it isn't like the homes are getting demolished. Some have over the centuries however. The downtown is fine and all 100 year old stuff, so it isn't like they floated away.

Drugs are in most places, but Sharpsburg is on the rise and that issue is getting less and less. Things are changing fast to say the least.

[PreservationPioneer]

Originally Posted by Goinback2011

PreservationPioneer, the problem is poor people can't afford the maintenance on old houses. They are fire traps in that case and there really are lots of house fires in this region. The homes are almost always old, frame multistory homes.

In Tampa, an old home doesn't predate 1921, the year a Cat 4 hurricane produced a monster storm surge that leveled anything near the bay. Most of the "old" houses were built in the 1940/50s.

I agree that the poor should not purchase homes. That is what subsidized housing is for. However, a single working person (such as myself, working in social services) who makes $30k - 40k per year should be able to purchase a modest, small home in an urban area. What I see in most cities is that the housing is geared toward people who make double or triple that, or for people who are below the poverty level. I'm glad to hear that the oldest homes in Tampa that were demolished were presumably not very significant from a history perspective. However, they were still viable as small, affordable homes to the working class. Again, I'm not suggesting that someone earning below the poverty level should purchase an old house. Someone who makes a modest, livable salary can afford to fix up a small house, though, if that is their goal.

[New Waver]

About 3pm today I drove past a brew pub called Dancing Gnome. There was a nice line waiting to get in/open? These people waiting looked a bit different than the people that tended to frequent the bars in the Sharpsburg that I remember. To me, many of them had the look of the same type of people one would see in the Lawrenceville of today, or the hipster look if you will. I thought that I'd never see it in Sharpsburg. Of course, I said the same thing about Lawrenceville twenty years ago. It's ironic. In the 80s and 90s it was
all about going to newer and sterile cities that were deemed cool. Now it is about walkability, history, charm and grit. That's Pittsburgh in a nutshell.

[Tractor Face]

There is always a big line there that sometimes stretches around the VFW and boxing gym. Must be good micro brew or perhaps, the idea of a good micro brew if you're a hipster.

[tyovan4]

The seating inside of Dancing Gnome is incredibly limited, its a fairly tiny place.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by Tractor Face

There is always a big line there that sometimes stretches around the VFW and boxing gym. Must be good micro brew or perhaps, the idea of a good micro brew if you're a hipster.

I checked out the menu once with my wife. Literally everything they had on tap was an IPA. No thanks.

I have been to the Hitchhiker Brewing location in Sharpsburg though, and it's quite nice, both in terms of ambience and beer selection.

[Blue Shift]

Screw IPAs. If that's all a place has, their taste buds are malfunctioning.