Housing recommendations - North Side, Downtown, and Strip (Millvale, Liberty: apartments, rentals)

[Mrs. Burberry]

Hi all,

I have lived in the city since 2001. I've lived in Oakland, Bloomfield, and Friendship, and stayed for long periods of time in Squirrel Hill. I like the East End a lot. However, it seems that the Port Authority cuts are going to go through, and if they do, I believe it will be difficult for me to get to work. (I live in Friendship, and the bus lines I'm on are all already terribly overcrowded. We can't afford any more cuts.) Even if the cuts don't go through, I think I might like to live closer to the office anyway.

I work on the North Shore. I love being as close to work as possible, and one of my favorite periods was when I lived in Friendship and worked in Shadyside. I have been trying to look for apartments or condos on the North Side, Downtown, Lower Lawrenceville, and the Strip, but I haven't found much. I have mostly been using Craigslist and those apartment rental booklets you find next to the newspaper kiosks. Dunno if I'm looking in the right places, probably not.

So here are my criteria for housing:

-Rent should be near 1K. I'll go a bit over but not too much.
-House needs to be near the North Shore. That rules out Squirrel Hill, etc.
-I don't want to live in a high-crime area. I love the flavor of the Mexican War Streets, and one of my friends at work lives there, but I don't feel safe there.
-I want to be able to go outside. I love the North Side's Riverfront Trail and would be amenable to using it.
-I want to live near other professionals. I don't like living by college kids, etc. One complaint I have about Friendship is that there are too many loud kids throwing loud parties.
-Would prefer a more modern building but not a dealbreaker.
-Must have whole-house air.

Any ideas? I dunno if I should go through a broker, or what (do people here even use brokers)? I am also wondering if I should consider buying instead of renting. I think I can afford some of the condos in those areas.

Thanks for your help!

[greg42]

Seems like Morgan (formerly Lincoln) at North Shore would be ideal, apart from the rent. Just to get into their smallest 1BR is over $1000, but maybe that's worth it if you can do a 1BR. Dunno what the wait list is like. The School House, on Tripoli, is not a new building but it's a 1990s-era renovation of the old building, and the rents are less. (I believe the reno was done by the same people who did the Pennsylvanian.) Although there is nothing wrong here I suspect you will not feel OK walking around or walking to work if you don't in Mex War area.

Downtown but close to North Shore you can see if there's a rental at Gateway Towers; these are owned condos but sometimes they get rented out, and if a 1BR the rent should be under $1k. This is an early-60s era building, but hopefully if the place is being rented it has been updated. Next block you could try 625 Stanwix. Get a few college students in there now, it seems. I used to work in this building; I believe it's still somewhat mixed with offices mixed with apartments even on same floor sometimes. 60s-era building with some updates in the kitchens and baths, poorly insulated at exterior wall but can keep warm OK as long as you're not sitting next to it (and used to be some heat included). Apparently they get waiting list now though I think. Encore would be too expensive. Century Building might be okay rent-wise for a smaller unit but probably long wait to get in there. Brand new renovation of older building (last year). All rented before it even opened. Penn Garrison is too expensive, $1100 for a studio. In a couple years there should be 200 new apartments in the old state office building, but that won't help you now. Market Square Place I don't think works and same problem, brand new and all rented fast so probably big waiting list. Pennsylvanian, dunno, could be borderline. They used to have some units that might rent for that low, but my guess is at this point probably not.

Strip is unlikely to turn up anything in your price range.

[Mrs. Burberry]

Awesome. I appreciate your detailed reply. Do you think my perceptions of the War Streets are inaccurate? I mean, maybe I am off there. I like the idea of the School House...I completely forgot about that and I have heard good things about it as well. I'll also check out the Downtown places you mentioned. Other thoughts:

1. What about the May Building and Midtown Towers? Someone suggested those to me and said it's nice. Is that place ok? (I've also heard that they can be dirty and noisy.)

2. I was also considering a rental somewhere between 40th and 36th St. on the Liberty Ave. side of Lawrenceville (obv. not the Strip, but sort of close). That would be a back-up plan for if they only cut mid-day bus service or something like that. Living there, I can get the 86 and the 87 and I'm super close to Downtown and to Friendship. It would be a significantly shorter bus ride than when coming from Friendship.

3. I also heard about Heinz Lofts near the Strip. Anyone had experiences with that place?

4. I have heard of apts. being available above storefronts, etc. Downtown. Any ideas on how I can tap into that rental market? I have no clue.

Sorry so many questions, but thanks again!

[greg42]

I don't know much about May Building, Midtown Towers and might as well throw the Roosevelt in that mix as well. My understanding is that they have a lot of old folks in there, and that the buildings are old and fairly worn (not recently renovated, etc.) I've walked by these places any number of times, but the closest I've been to inside is when my voting place was the Roosevelt lobby some years ago. I suppose you can actually inquire and look for yourself, that's the only way to know for sure if it can work for you. Maybe it could.

Heinz Lofts is too expensive AFAIK.

I don't know of too many one-off apts above storefronts downtown. A lot of the above storefront space in small buildings is simply unused, too much trouble to rent out for one or two tenants. Otherwise with the larger buildings there is office space. There have been some recent larger scale conversions of such space like Market Square Place and another building on Market/Graeme the name of which escapes me. The latter has about 6 or 8 units I think. But the pricing has not been especially low. I think Market Square Place may have some 1BR in your range but wait list is probably long.

Nothing wrong with looking in Lawrenceville there, certainly. I don't think there's anything too new in that vicinity. But IMO if you're going to move with transportation as part of the reason, go ahead and exhaust all opportunities for places within walking distance first. Actually, I don't know which part of North Shore you work in, maybe these are not strictly walking (esp in snow, etc. ) but they could be, at least.

I hear back and forth on Mexican War Streets perception. I think if you like the vibe there's no reason not to consider it, although in looking for rentals you probably have to watch out for those trying to stretch the definition of where their place is. It's also a little farther outside the realm of reasonable walking distance, so I would consider it later than something like School House, which is a little closer. I think the School House could be good. There are actually still some useful shops on E. Ohio Street nearby. The Giant Eagle is nearby, not nearly as nice as the Shadyside one you might go to from Friendship, but it is there. And so on. The best thing to do would be to walk around that area yourself, try walking from there to work if that's something you would do, etc.

[razorfish721]

Thank you, Greg42 for the rentals assessment. Very helpful. I am disabled and have difficulty walking substantial distances. I'm not interested in a seniors tenement and would like to be within walking distance of most things in a laid-back environment. Any suggestions, anyone?
Many thanks in advance

[JayDiFiore]

Originally Posted by greg42

Heinz Lofts is too expensive AFAIK.

A buddy of mine was looking at them when he was considering moving here from Vegas. Yes... they're pretty pricey, but he showed me some floor plans, and they look really, really sweet if you're in to that kind of vibe.

I'm not sure where on the North Shore you work, but if it's walkable from the Lofts, you could always ditch (or significantly curtail the usage of) your car and do your grocery shopping in the Strip. Maybe the numbers could work.

[pman]

Originally Posted by greg42

I don't know of too many one-off apts above storefronts downtown. A lot of the above storefront space in small buildings is simply unused, too much trouble to rent out for one or two tenants.

I don't know about that. I think, historically, that's been true but the rents that are being fetched downtown will eventually entice people to convert the upper floors of these buildings, even if it involves the building changing hands to a real landlord. often, these types of buildings can be converted, then run by a management company. the ROI for the building owner would be lower, but income is income for something that is currently generating nothing for them. even better, it creates more demand for the commercial space on the ground floor. I think there's also some kind of fund that helps owners convert the upstairs.

Originally Posted by greg42

I hear back and forth on Mexican War Streets perception. I think if you like the vibe there's no reason not to consider it, although in looking for rentals you probably have to watch out for those trying to stretch the definition of where their place is.

is there anything going on with the garden block? I also like the flavor of the war streets.

[greg42]

Originally Posted by pman

I don't know about that. I think, historically, that's been true but the rents that are being fetched downtown will eventually entice people to convert the upper floors of these buildings, even if it involves the building changing hands to a real landlord. often, these types of buildings can be converted, then run by a management company. the ROI for the building owner would be lower, but income is income for something that is currently generating nothing for them. even better, it creates more demand for the commercial space on the ground floor. I think there's also some kind of fund that helps owners convert the upstairs.

Eventually, yes, I hope it happens more. For now, though, there isn't much available as far as I know. From what I remember reading, the funds available for helping convert upper space or facade work or maybe both, seemed like a pittance. Didn't seem like enough to entice too many takers, but I don't know. I think that new one on Liberty counts as one taker, perhaps.

[greg42]

Originally Posted by JayDiFiore

A buddy of mine was looking at them when he was considering moving here from Vegas. Yes... they're pretty pricey, but he showed me some floor plans, and they look really, really sweet if you're in to that kind of vibe.

I'm not sure where on the North Shore you work, but if it's walkable from the Lofts, you could always ditch (or significantly curtail the usage of) your car and do your grocery shopping in the Strip. Maybe the numbers could work.

I was only going by the OP's number. Too expensive when the rent target is $1000-ish. For anything else, you have to reset the "relative to what" to determine if it's "too expensive". Expensive is totally relative to the situation.

I got the impression there may not be any car at all in OP's life but not sure. Certainly if moving curtails car usage a bit you can figure that into the math, but from a couple other posts I can surmise that $1000 rent would already be a significant boost so even if that's the case any savings has probably already been offset.

[tranceFusion]

Remember Millvale is also on the north shore trail, although the housing stock is all older.