Nice Manchester House highlighted in Nytimes real estate section (crime, neighborhood)

[WhoIsStanwix?]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

Searching archives:

Bidwell Street:

Beaver and Columbus today:

Beaver Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA - Google Maps

Brian, really awesome find. I have to ask, do you work? It seems like your posts are a full time job here...

[ferraris]

Originally Posted by Evergrey

bizarro world 1960s ranch house redevelopment, chain link fences

Take a drive down Pennsylvania Avenue. There's even a few decidedly non-historic homes on Sheffield and North.

[Aqua Teen Carl]

I'm very familiar with Manchester and I don't necessarily agree that buying anything there will be an investment quite yet. For example, there was a company that renovated a building and made it into nice apartments. However, the place flopped and they could never get the apartment rented.

People are not keen on paying an arm and a leg for housing when there's literally Section 8 across the street from them.

[Debbie1125]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

Searching archives:

Bidwell Street:



Beaver Avenue appears to have been the main commercial street:











Beaver and Columbus today:

Beaver Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA - Google Maps

How sad that all of those buildings are no longer there.

[heartchya]

I am not surprised at the house priced for 360. The one up in the 600's is beautiful---dream house. But I agree I wouldn't buy in Manchester for that price. One of my very close friends is renting a house in Manchester. It is huge, beautiful wood work, large kitchen, back yard, front porch, updated while keeping the character. Their rent is $1,000 for a full 4 bedroom house. Across the street however is a huge abandoned building. I have been down there quite a bit the past few months. I generally feel safe but there is still a ton of sketchy people out and about. I do think it will continue to improve. There is already a big improvement in the past 10 years. I just don't know that many people that are willing to spend that kind of money to live in Manchester. The landlord is trying to sell the house my friends are renting for just under 200 and isn't having any luck.

[ferraris]

Originally Posted by heartchya

I am not surprised at the house priced for 360. The one up in the 600's is beautiful---dream house. But I agree I wouldn't buy in Manchester for that price. One of my very close friends is renting a house in Manchester. It is huge, beautiful wood work, large kitchen, back yard, front porch, updated while keeping the character. Their rent is $1,000 for a full 4 bedroom house. Across the street however is a huge abandoned building. I have been down there quite a bit the past few months. I generally feel safe but there is still a ton of sketchy people out and about. I do think it will continue to improve. There is already a big improvement in the past 10 years. I just don't know that many people that are willing to spend that kind of money to live in Manchester. The landlord is trying to sell the house my friends are renting for just under 200 and isn't having any luck.

One thing I'm finding in shopping for a house is how much investors can drive up the cost of an area. I've been outbid twice by cash, no-inspection buyers (once in Manchester) who presumably plan to rent out the buildings at a significant enough profit for it to be worth their while. It's the free market at work, but I think there's a negative effect on the neighborhood. Increased rental rates (both in price and home ownership ratio) are generally not a good thing for an area. On the other hand, many of the people who transformed places like Lawrenceville are renters, who may not have been willing to take the risk in buying a house there.

$1,000/month rent provides plenty of room for investors to pick up homes at higher prices than one would expect, and still turn a profit.

[airwave09]

Imagine if what happened to Beaver Ave. happened to Carson St. as well. I shudder at the thought.

[ferraris]

Originally Posted by airwave09

Imagine if what happened to Beaver Ave. happened to Carson St. as well. I shudder at the thought.

It easily could have, Carson Street occupies prime space for a highway. It was just luck of the draw I guess.

[ctoocheck]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

I believe Beaver Avenue is the street crossing right through the middle of this picture:



Today:

Bing Maps - Driving Directions, Traffic and Road Conditions

The amount of destruction from the construction of the Parkway North and Ohio River Blvd in particular is really extraordinary. Really the amount of destruction on the whole Northside in general is really extraordinary.

At a MovePgh community meeting presentation in the Southside a few weeks ago, they showed a design idea/scenario where Ohio River Blvd would be leveled, made into a proper boulevard at-grade with a potential extension of the North Short Connector running along the middle. Something like that taking place could do some magic for redeveloping this area into something like what it was. Chances it will occur anytime soon are, of course, probably rather slim.

Unfortunately it doesn't seem they have the renderings on their website yet.


Also that meeting was very poorly-attended. Although the study area for that part was pretty small (Lower Hill District, Downtown, Southside, Hazelwood). I'd encourage everyone to attend the upcoming workshops for the south hills and east end over the next few months.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by ctoocheck

. . . they showed a design idea/scenario where Ohio River Blvd would be leveled, made into a proper boulevard at-grade with a potential extension of the North Short Connector running along the middle. Something like that taking place could do some magic for redeveloping this area into something like what it was. Chances it will occur anytime soon are, of course, probably rather slim.

Soon, maybe not, but I have hope things are going to change significantly in coming years. And this is definitely something we should keep talking about, because the North Side is way too well-located, with such an unusual amount of contiguous developable land for this region, to waste so much land value with elevated highways criss-crossing it.