How much longer will the East End stay affordable? (Pittsburgh: rent, cheap home)

[ryanm3685]

One afternoon, I was talking to some people at a nice place called Eclipse in Lawrenceville. I commented on how Butler Street has taken off recently with a lot of good businesses, and the bartender says jokingly, "Don't say that too loud, or the rent will go up!" Same thing when I went to Scavengers, a really cool antique store. He's worried that when the current owner of the building passes on, he won't be able to afford using the building anymore.

Now I am all for places turning around; no one wants to see a place stay a dump forever. Those "History in the Remaking" signs are definitely on the money! But it's a travesty when they get to the point where their prices are outrageous. Someone who works on Butler Street says you have to go all the way out towards the zoo to find stuff in Lawrenceville that's decently priced! One thing I am interested in knowing is how do you do gentrification right? What I mean is, how do you improve a place and make it more desirable while simultaneously respecting the long time residents of a place? I think the idea that someone would have to choose between safety and affordability and location is an atrocity but that is a different post altogether.

What happens if/when the stuff past 62nd Street gets out of control in terms of price? If you want to go further east, you're all the way out in Verona! Or you can go live on that island along the Allegheny River

I know most of this post has focused on one neighborhood, but what's happening in Lawrenceville seems to be happening, albeit to a lesser extent, in other neighborhoods in the East End, such as East Liberty. Somebody tells me that, if I recall, Friendship and Garfield are two of the few places in the East End that are cheap (for Pittsburgh prices, lol) Do you think they are going to be gentrified soon?

[BrianTH]

There are no easy answers: as more and more people with higher income jobs are looking for walkable neighborhoods close to major employment centers like Downtown and Oakland, they are going to drive up housing prices in the East End. But some things which can help moderate the resulting dislocations are: making sure there are no artificial impediments to building new units, including lower-cost, modest, multi-unit buildings; helping existing non-owner residents purchase and renovate their own properties; and taking active steps to help existing residents access new job, business, or other economic opportunities.

By the way, Friendship is not what I would call cheap anymore.

[wyoh]

D.C. has experienced a ton of gentrification in the last two decades or so. In my experience when a neighborhood ceases to become affordable the gentrification just moves to a different neighborhood. So Lawrenceville may not be affordable for much longer, when it isn't people looking for a bargain will start fixing up other less desirable neighborhoods.

There's really no way around it - if you make a place nice then people will generally pay more to live there.

[Aqua Teen Carl]

My advice is to have all the people willing to pay crazy rent in one side of town so that it doesn't affect everywhere else. Then people can travel over there to enjoy the amenities without paying ridiculous rent prices.

[ferraris]

It really depends how you define East End. If you include neighborhoods like the Hill, Homewood, Hazelwood, Glen Hazel, Larimer, and Lincoln-Lemington, then affordable homes will exist in the East End for quite some time to come. I assume your post meant how much longer will the currently desirable neighborhoods remain affordable. In my opinion, that time has already passed for the entire East End except for Upper Lawrenceville. Everything else is either a ghetto, fully gentrified, or an improving ghetto that's priced as if it were already gentrified.

This is happening on the north side as well. It's practically impossible to find homes for less than 6 figures in Deutschtown, Central Northside (so-called "hood town" included), Southern Manchester, and Allegheny West. There's still an abundance of cheap homes in Pittsburgh, but you have to deal with moving further out, living in a purely residential neighborhood, or living in a sketchy area. Fortunately, Pittsburgh is blessed with many areas that have the bones to become desirable. And I think that is the answer to your question of "how to do gentrification right", you have to keep spreading it around. Unfortunately, I don't know how best to accomplish that. One way is good transportation (both roads and mass transit). For example, Beechview wouldn't even be on my radar if it didn't have the T. Neighborhoods like Troy Hill and Brookline are mostly off of my radar because of their relative isolation. So effective transportation solutions are one way to encourage the gentrification to spread around a bit and keep things affordable.

Pittsburgh has more than enough neighborhoods that are candidates for "spill-over" gentrification as the population continues to expand slowly.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Aqua Teen Carl

My advice is to have all the people willing to pay crazy rent in one side of town so that it doesn't affect everywhere else.

Yeah, good luck with that. The "contagion" has already started spreading south and north, and I wouldn't count on west holding out forever.

[Aqua Teen Carl]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

Yeah, good luck with that. The "contagion" has already started spreading south and north, and I wouldn't count on west holding out forever.

Well yeah but rents in those areas are still hardly like the ones in the east.

If all else fails we can all live in tents in Hayes.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Aqua Teen Carl

Well yeah but rents in those areas are still hardly like the ones in the east.

I dunno--the South Side is already up there, and the North Side is coming along fast.

[Caladium]

Depends on how you define "affordable."

[steindle]

Originally Posted by ryanm3685

Same thing when I went to Scavengers, a really cool antique store. He's worried that when the current owner of the building passes on, he won't be able to afford using the building anymore.

This is my dad's store, incidentally. I'll tell him someone described it as "really cool" -- he'll get a kick out of that!