is it safe to move to waterfront, munhall/homestead (Pittsburgh: apartment complex, crime)

[coolmal]

Hi guys,
I will be working at upmc and moving to waterfront apartment complex(managed by lincoln eastern management company) located in munhall/homestead .....this complex is right across waterfront mall....I heard about recent reports of breakin into cars parked in mall/complex (which i think possible considering big mall in place..) but what kind of other incidents--theft/shooting or anything else.// any information is appreciated....Thanks again...

[Bong477]

A friend lived there with his girlfriend and they thought it was fine... they only moved out because they wanted to buy a house. The apartments are pretty nice and obviously very close to plenty of shopping. They are seperated enough from Homestead that they should be fine. Waterfront sees a lot of traffic, most of which is harmless. There was a shooting at the movie theater there about 2 years ago... it was a huge deal, all over the news, and resulted in a huge police prescence for a long time. It is definately not the norm, more of a "nowhere is 100% safe" sort of thing. I go there all the time and never had any significant safety concerns aside from locking the car door, etc.

I wouldn't wander into Homestead though, its not a good area and is definately one of the worst parts of Pittsburgh. If taking long walks outside through the community is your thing, I would find somewhere to live.

[BrianTH]

Just an idle thought, but that development reminds me of the sort of communities one often sees in retirement areas, where the residents ride on golf carts to the shops in the open-air mall across the street. Accordingly, I always imagined if our parents for some reason decided to move to Pittsburgh, we would encourage them to look there.

Anyway, The Waterfront is basically its own neighborhood, in that it is pretty obviously separated from the nearby neighborhoods where it is nominally located, and the residences are even more separated because the shops are in between. So I am not sure there are good crime statistics available for that area, but I would guess it is pretty darn safe.

[suzeeq521]

Do people really consider Homestead one of the worst parts of Pittsburgh?

I find this really hard to believe. It is a depressed little town (and no, not a Pittsburgh neighborhood) but I can think of far worse neighborhoods and towns. I can even think of a few occasions where, yes, I did walk around Homestead.

Bong - are you sure you are not confusing it with Homewood - which is a city neighborhood & is notorious for its crime level?

[Bong477]

I'm sorry, in retrospect, I think I did exagerate a little bit. Homestead isn't the worst area in Pittsburgh... or even really "one of the worst" but I still wouldn't call it a very nice area especially in comparison to the relatively upscale waterfront shopping area and apartments. It's very run down and dumpy.

[PeterRabbit]

Last year I was on a blind date with a girl from Butler. Somehow we ended up driving through Homestead. I asked if she ever heard of it. She said yes, it's on the news all the time. There's lots of murders there.

[supersoulty]

Originally Posted by coolmal

Hi guys,
I will be working at upmc and moving to waterfront apartment complex(managed by lincoln eastern management company) located in munhall/homestead .....this complex is right across waterfront mall....I heard about recent reports of breakin into cars parked in mall/complex (which i think possible considering big mall in place..) but what kind of other incidents--theft/shooting or anything else.// any information is appreciated....Thanks again...

There have been some recent robberies and shootings... very recent. I think there was one there last week. It's not the nicest place to live. I wouldn't recommend it. The Waterfront seems to have just become of magnet for crime, attracted to the little bit of new money there. It's a nice place to go for entertainment on weekends before 2am when there are a lot of people around, but I would be concerned for the safety of anyone down there during the off hours.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by PeterRabbit

Last year I was on a blind date with a girl from Butler. Somehow we ended up driving through Homestead. I asked if she ever heard of it. She said yes, it's on the news all the time. There's lots of murders there.

I strongly suspect she was confusing it with Homewood.

[PeterRabbit]

^ You're probably right. I was so shocked by her remark that I don't remember my follow up to correct her.

[stasia]

Homestead does have one of my favorite Chinese restaurants, Me Lyng. It absolutely is a depressed, run-down area. But I don't know enough about it to say how safe it is.

The Waterfront is separated enough from Homestead proper that I wouldn't worry about living there.