The Century Building (Pittsburgh, Lawrenceville, Penn: lofts, neighborhood, theater)

[scottykick]

I will be moving to Pittsburgh in July, I found out about the Century building and it looks promising, I do not drive so the fact that it is located in dowtown is a big plus, as it is located in either good walking distance or bus ride away from everything I need/want access to.

What I want to know is how is the area it is in, what type of neighborhood is it? I'm in NYC (Brooklyn) now, so city life is nothing new to me.

After looking into Heinz Lofts and a few lofts in Lawrenceville, this seems to be a good choice.

It seems to be real close to PNC Park & Heinz Feild, is it also close to the Mellon Arena and will it be close to the new arena being built for the Pens (oddly enough, growing up in NY I have been a Pens/Steelers fan since Lemuix/Kevin Green days) and I can go see the Mets when they come to town...while not a Pirates "fan" I have liked them since being a kid, just because I loved the reto style hats the use to wear in like 1985/1986. So having access to sporting events is big for me.

Any general info about the area or building will be helpful.

[Tinare]

The Century Building is on 7th Street downtown. It's a good downtown location, I would think. You would be right in the heart of the Cultural District, a couple of blocks from Heinz Hall, The Benedum, the O'Reilly Theatre, the Byham Theatre and the Harris Theatre, so things would be actually going on in the evening in that part of town. Here's a link to information on the Cutural District --

Cultural District Map

So even if you're not a big theater-goer, the fact that they are there means that the area is a bit more active in the evening than the rest of downtown will be. Downtown living is fairly new to Pittsburgh. There has always been some, but it's just starting to be on the rise. But, since it's not been a staple, downtown overall tends to be a more 9-5 place. However, the cultural district gets more traffic in the evening. It will still likely be slower and quieter than what you're used to in NYC. But at least restaurants will be open in the evenings and on weekends for the most part. (There are sections of downtown where this is not the case.)

And it is a mere walk across a bridge from PNC Park and North Shore attractions. Additionally, Point State Park is a short walk down Penn Avenue from there, and there is a long river walk on the North Shore, so you can walk, bike, rollerblade, etc. close to home. Not that anything in downtown Pittsburgh is very far, it's extremely compact and it's all walkable. And, like you mentioned, from downtown you have access to most of the area via public transportation.

[JoeLeaphorn]

The only issue with downtown living AFAIK is that there still does not exist a full service grocery store within walking distance which has reasonable hours. There is a new full-service organic grocery store in the Strip District which is not too far away, but nothing right in the heart of the city.

Probably, there aren't enough residences to support it though there is talk of putting something in around the 5th Avenue corridor development.

There is supposed to be a grocery going in in the Hill District and you can always bus to the South Side or Shadyside, but that isn't practical when you need to carry a lot of groceries (or travel in unfavorable weather).

There are numerous Flexcar locations in the Golden Triangle (downtown) area. If I were going to live there, I would definitely look into this as an alternative to owning a car unless you already own one.

[scottykick]

Thanks for all the info, it has been very helpful, I'm not much on night life as I was about 5 years ago, but it isstill nice to have the option...LOL