Recommended places downtown or near, or whatever (Pittsburgh, Butler: apartments, rent)

[skrizzle]

Ok, this is obviously a ways off but once my gf and I complete our degrees we will be moving to Pittsburgh as Pitt U has the masters programs we are looking for.

This is 3 years away, but we like to know things. We did a ton of research and finally decided Pittsburgh looks best.

How is downtown Pittsburgh? We are from KC, our downtown is awesome and so are the surrounding areas, if we can't live downtown then we like quaint areas with walkable neighborhoods that are close to the city.

Is there any recommended apartments downtown we should check out? We aren't wanting to spend over 1000/month in rent if possible. If not downtown, what are some good areas we should check out? We are mid-late 20s.

I know Pitt has subway and light rail, is it any good or cover decent areas or not really?

Thanks in advance. Appreciate it.

[Hopes]

If you're attending UPitt, there's no reason for you to live downtown.

UPitt isn't located downtown. It's located in Oakland, the location of multiple colleges, hospitals and the museum.

Shadyside and Squirell Hill are two quaint, walkable neighborhoods in the immediate UPItt area.

There are others also.

[iwonderwhy2124]

Downtown is actually a pretty dead area in Pittsburgh. After 5 pm you won't see many people. It is basically a big collection of office buildings, small little restaurants that serve lunch for the office workers, and a few theaters for events. They are trying to lure people into downtown to make it a 24/7 kind of place...but it still isn't there yet.

Here is a rundown of city neighborhoods:

Shadyside - Quiet and preppy. Lots of graduate students and young professionals. I think that this neighborhood is very over-priced. It has three little business districts that cater to people with too much money on their hands.
Squirrel Hill - Safe, quiet, and preppy in an "established" way. Has a pretty active business district. Lots of families and graduate students.
South Side - The most active and lively neighborhood in Pittsburgh. There are tons of bars, clubs, and stores down here. It is a cool place to live, but you will have to deal with the weekends (college kids invading the place to get drunk and puke all over the place). It gets nutty on Friday and Saturday nights.
Oakland - This is where UPitt is located. South Oakland is full of crumbling row houses and slums that are populated by UPitt students. You will have to deal with parties every night of the week and stupid **** happening constantly around you. North Oakland has a few spots that are OK (specifically where Shadyside, Bloomfield, and Oakland come together).
Bloomfield - More working-class, but still nice. Has a decent business district.
Polish Hill - There is pretty much nothing here, but it is strangely smack dab in the middle of the city. You will have quick access to everywhere. A quirky and strange neighborhood. Rents and home prices have gone up recently because a lot of people have discovered this place in the past few years.
Lawrencville - Seedy, but improving. They are trying to make it the new "hip" place to be, but it still has a long way to go. Stay away from the small side streets and the higher streets (50th and higher) up Butler Street though. It can get scuzzy and gross.


Stay away from - Hill District, most of the North Side, Beltzhoover, Knoxville, Manchester, Mt. Oliver, and Homewood

[lauren_g]

I for one am starting grad school at Pitt in the fall and I'm living in Greenfield right on the border of Squirrel Hill. Both neighborhoods seem great and there are bus stops where I'll be able to take the bus to campus (which is free with a Pitt ID). Good luck!

[BrianTH]

By way of background, I was once a Pitt grad student.

Anyway, as you may be gathering, "Downtown" here is considered just the business district right at the Confluence, and therefore doesn't include most of the central neighborhoods. Pitt, as was mentioned, is located in Oakland, which in turn is in a part of the City generally known as the East End (basically because it is the quadrant due east of the Confluence). There are lots of popular residential neighborhoods in the East End where Pitt grad students live, and $1000/month isn't a bad budget.

A little more specifically, if you are coming to Pittsburgh for the first time and going to grad school at Pitt, I think it is hard to beat living in either Shadyside or Squirrel Hill. Both are very convenient to Pitt (by bus, bike, or even walking), and are generally nice and fun neighborhoods full of students. $1000/month will get you a nice 1BR, and maybe a 2BR (although that starts being a little more of stretch, particularly in Shadyside). Down the road there are some other neighborhoods where Pitt grad students also live that I could recommend, but I really think those particular two neighborhoods are ideal for at least your first apartment in the East End, at least if you can afford it.

[Joshbarblahblah]

By the time you get to Pittsburgh, the Downtown area may be more active. Right now, it's quite busy during the work day and almost completely dead at night unless there's something going on - the symphony or something like that. Many of the plans for the city include attempts at creating the downtown area into a more vibrant core place to live...but only time will tell if that works.

Pitt is in Oakland. Grad students will want to stay away from South Oakland, which has a bunch of lousy housing owned by absentee landlords and occupied by undergraduates. North Oakland is much quieter and has better housing. It wouldn't call it quaint, but it is certainly walkable.

Shadyside is expensive, but has good business districts. Certain streets have a quaint, almost suburban feel. Biking, walking, or bus-riding to Pitt's campus is easy from Shadyside.
Squirrel Hill is a bit expensive too, but has one of the best business districts, I think, in the city and attracts a lot of graduate students. The walk to Pitt's campus is nice (providing the weather is good) and 5-6 buses go through Squirrel Hill into Oakland, so transportation should be good.

Bloomfield is also nice. That's where I live. Rent will be cheaper than, say, in Shadyside, but there's only one bus that goes from Bloomfield to Oakland (The 54C - every 20 minutes during the day and every 40 minutes at night.) I've walked to Pitt from my house in Bloomfield a few times (when I miss the bus!) but you probably wouldn't want to do it everyday, especially in the winter. It's a safe neighborhood with lots of great places to eat.

Those are the neighborhoods closest to Pitt's campus. Friendship is pretty close to, but I don't think that any buses go directly from Friendship to Oakland. Some of the streets are quaint though.

The Pittsburgh subway only goes into the south-end neighborhoods, I think. I don't know. I live in the East End, so I've never been on it. I use the bus system (free with Pitt ID!) or walk.

[Hopes]

I'd just like to mention that Shadyside is terrible for someone who plans on driving. Parking is very limited. It's even a pain to go there for quick shopping. It's a great place for those who want a walking neighborhood and plan to rely mostly on public transportation.

I'm only on this rant because I went there the other day to pick up something I couldn't buy anywhere else. Five blocks was the closest I could get to the store. That's too far for someone who wasn't planning on a day of shopping. Shadyside is a nice place to go for the afternoon, but a terrible place for a quick stop on a busy day running errands.

IMO many areas of Squirrel Hill have better residential and commercial parking (not all but many). Housing in Squirrel Hill tends to be more spread out with larger yards. Shadyside is just all crammed together. Admitedly, Shadyside is fun, trendy and cool, but I would be annoyed living there if I planned to rely on a vehicle for transportation.

[skrizzle]

Kind of a downer about downtown, we are really into being in the city.... KC downtown is very walkable and lots of things to do and different districts. Hopefully in a few years it will change in Pittsburgh.

I've been reading the forums and seeing some negative comments about things to do there, but i'm not really sure I buy it. Most people don't think KC would have much to do, and it's its own citizens who hate on it most... but i'm never bored here.

Thanks for the info all! I'll check out some of the suggested places, and hopefully we can make a trip up to check the area out.

[fleetiebelle]

we are really into being in the city

All of the neighborhoods people mentioned above are in the city, they're just not downtown (in the central business district.) There are a lot of great city neighborhoods around the universities.

[skrizzle]

AH cool... I need to pull out the google skills and look up some of these places =P