Garfield/Friendship area - Questions (Pittsburgh, Liberty: apartment, for rent, lofts)

[Pittmover]

Hello,

I'm moving to Pitt in the fall for school (U. Pitt) and have been looking at housing for quite a while. I've heard all of the usual recommendations for renting (Shadyside, Oakland, Squirrel Hill, Highland Park), but I came across a house that I really liked in Garfield (Rosetta St.) and it was cheap to boot.

I've heard the horror stories about this being a high-crime area, run-down etc..., so when I went to see it I wasn't expecting much (read: Beirut minus the shrapnel). Yet I was pleasantly suprised when I actually went to see the house, there were some rough looking blocks here and there leading up to it, but every house on the street appeared to be neat and well-kept and there was new construction right down the street.

I felt like I did get a few funny looks from the neighbors about being there, but I didn't feel threatened really. It seems like a neighborhood in transition more than anything. I've heard Pgh can be very racially segregated/intolerant....so would this be a bad thing for me (late 20's, white professional who has lived in urban areas before.) I'd like to buy rather than rent as I plan on sticking around for a few years after graduation.

[onwardandupward]

Garfield is really in transition. I go to an Indian restaurant there all the time - People's on Penn Ave., and work down the street in East Liberty, so I'm always interested in seeing the changes. There are a lot of new art galleries/restaurants/coffee shops/boutique clothing store/non-profits locating on Penn Ave., and of course the new Children's Hospital is right across the border with Lawrenceville/Bloomfield. They are building new lofts that look pretty cool - the Glass Lofts - right across from the Glass Factory.

I never feel unsafe in Garfield, but at the same time I am generally not there (or am just driving through) late at night. There can also be a big difference that a few blocks make - the area up the hill from Penn Ave. would be a bit shakier than right on Penn Ave. If I were you, I would visit the house you're considering at all hours of the day and night and judge for yourself. You can also talk to people at the Bloomfield-Garfield Corporation and get some opinions from them, and people in the neighborhood. There is a lot of good stuff happening in Garfield, which means it could possibly be a good investment as things improve further.

[Little Mizz Pittsburgh]

There are still certain parts of Rosetta, Kincaid, Dearborn and Broad streets that are crime ridden, due to drug selling and prostitution. Like the poster above me mentioned, visit the house you're considering, all hours of the day and night, first, before making a final decision. The Penn Avenue part of Garfield may appear safe, and gentrified, but those streets directly behind Penn Ave. are a whole other story. You never know, though, the part of Rosetta you're looking at, may be okay, but its the walk to and from your bus stop that may not be okay....investigate the area, yourself. Don't reply on Garfield Jubiliee and the Bloomfield-Garfield Corporation's advice about the safety of the area. They just want to sell you or rent you a home. I have a friend who rented off of them for years, before she decided to finally buy the house. When she first moved in YEARS ago, they were great, but as the years went by, and things needed fixed, they were VERY slow to respond....I think there was some sort of change in management or ownership. Anyway, just proceed with a lot of caution.

[Johnland]

Originally Posted by Pittmover

Hello,

I've heard Pgh can be very racially segregated/intolerant....so would this be a bad thing for me (late 20's, white professional who has lived in urban areas before.)

Oh please...show me a city that can rightfully claim to not have segregation or intolerance. Aren't Highland Park, East Liberty and Friendship diverse neighborhoods? I don't know about Garfield, but I don't think you can label the city as 'segregated'. There are sections that mostly one race or another, and then there are mixed. I think that be applied to every city in the country.

[ajl777]

gentrification is a lot different too in pittsburgh compared to other cities

[soniqV]

gentrification is a lot different too in pittsburgh compared to other cities

Not to get too off topic, but care to expand?

I have a friend that lives in an apartment building on Negley (technically East Lib but two blocks away), it's not the best, not the worst part of town. Some obvious prostitution going on, but I never feel threatened. But I don't really wander around too much there, mostly just to walk Artworks or Ava or Shadow, and I'm sure it can change from block to block... I'd definitely check it out at night a few times before making a decision.

[Pittmover]

Originally Posted by Johnland

Oh please...show me a city that can rightfully claim to not have segregation or intolerance. Aren't Highland Park, East Liberty and Friendship diverse neighborhoods? I don't know about Garfield, but I don't think you can label the city as 'segregated'. There are sections that mostly one race or another, and then there are mixed. I think that be applied to every city in the country.

I don't mean for this to turn into a debate about the various climes of racial tolerance around the U.S. I have heard word-of-mouth from people who live or have lived there that Pgh neighborhoods were "different" from other cities, if this is not the case, I invite you to dispell the misinformation that I received. Perhaps I should not have used a word as loaded as "segregated," if that offended you, I apologize.


Little Mizz Pittsburgh: What parts of those particular streets are you talking about, the ends (West, I guess) that are closer to Lawrenceville or the ones closer to East Liberty. This particular house is on the west end of Rosetta between Winebiddle and N. Mathilda Sts.---which are the streets I'd likely have to walk down to get to the bus. (I think?) I'm still trying to sort through the Port Authority website to figure out which bus(es) I'd need to take. The 54C takes me to Oakland, but I don't think that has any stops around there.

[AaronClark]

Garfield is hardly a bad area... It's definitely more rough than most of the east end, but it's on it's way. It's surrounded on all sides by great neighborhoods for the most part and it's already starting to hit a critical mass of "creative class" businesses – restaurants, coffee shops, etc. In due time it will match up to the rest, I have no doubt.

I am actually really close to buying into the glass lofts on Penn. That tax abatement until 2017 is INCREDIBLE.

[Little Mizz Pittsburgh]

Originally Posted by Pittmover

Little Mizz Pittsburgh: What parts of those particular streets are you talking about, the ends (West, I guess) that are closer to Lawrenceville or the ones closer to East Liberty. This particular house is on the west end of Rosetta between Winebiddle and N. Mathilda Sts.---which are the streets I'd likely have to walk down to get to the bus. (I think?) I'm still trying to sort through the Port Authority website to figure out which bus(es) I'd need to take. The 54C takes me to Oakland, but I don't think that has any stops around there.

The blocks smack dead in the middle of the east and west ends. I have a friend, who used to live on Kincaid, and my GOSH, I had to stop letting my daughter stay the night over there with her daughter, because the block she lived on was ROUGH, and they loved to play outside and walk around the neighborhood....too many gang hang out spots for me...(by the way, they call themselves BLOODS in Garfield, so you'll see a bunch of people wearing red)......gang war fare isn't as bad as it was in the 90's, but they do still claim 'sets' here in some of these Pittsburgh neighborhoods and Garfield is one of them.

I guess the West end of Garfield isn't so bad. I went to a Memorial Day cook-out on one of those streets last year (forget the name of the street). The house had a nice big back yard, we were all seated under a big tent, I actually felt safe. It was a few blocks west of St. Lawrence O'Toole Parish. However, up a few blocks, in the middle part of Kincaid, Dearborn and Broad...not so much .....so you may be okay on the Western end, closer to Lawrenceville. You still need to check it out, for yourself, though. I never step foot in the back trenches of Garfield, anymore. All my friends have moved to different places in the city, so my accounts are 1-2 years old...they're not very recent.

[Johnland]

Originally Posted by Pittmover

I don't mean for this to turn into a debate about the various climes of racial tolerance around the U.S. I have heard word-of-mouth from people who live or have lived there that Pgh neighborhoods were "different" from other cities, if this is not the case, I invite you to dispell the misinformation that I received. Perhaps I should not have used a word as loaded as "segregated," if that offended you, I apologize.

Oh, no need to apologize. I was not offended at all. I was just picking up on the labeling of Pittsburgh.