Will Hazelwood be the next neighborhood to be grentrified? (Pittsburgh: 2013, neighborhoods)

[eccotecc]

I'm surprised Hazelwood doesn't appear in C-D threads or posts. It may be a sleeper or possibly newcomers to Pittsburgh don't know about it. It is in a great location since it borders Squirrel Hill, Greenfield, and Oakland. The primary artery into Hazelwood is Second Ave. so it's in close proximity to town and the Southside. Hazelwood is similar to Lawrenceville but on the Monongahela side of east end. I also believe the neighborhood is in the Allderdice school attendance area.

Hazelwood may be worth looking at by courageous urban pioneers.

[WhoIsStanwix?]

Ive heard on these boards that Hazelwood has a lot of missing teeth, which could be a good or a bad thing depending how you look at it. Also, isn't the existing housing stock there pretty bad?

[gg]

Originally Posted by eccotecc

I'm surprised Hazelwood doesn't appear in C-D threads or posts. It may be a sleeper or possibly newcomers to Pittsburgh don't know about it. It is in a great location since it borders Squirrel Hill, Greenfield, and Oakland. The primary artery into Hazelwood is Second Ave. so it's in close proximity to town and the Southside. Hazelwood is similar to Lawrenceville but on the Monongahela side of east end. I also believe the neighborhood is in the Allderdice school attendance area.

Hazelwood may be worth looking at by courageous urban pioneers.

There is one big project in Hazelwood that is going to probably keep that area down pretty hard. It isn't exactly a good project to ride a bike by in the middle of the day. I don't think there will be much activity there as far as it going in a better direction. Not at least in the near decade or two.

[ferraris]

I think it depends largely on out the LTV site gets redeveloped. Hazelwood will be well on its way to gentrification if the following are true of the LTV site:

A.) It Integrates with Hazelwood itself (more like South Side Works than the Waterfront)
B.) It better connects Hazelwood to Oakland
C.) It has things to attract people to it as a destination, and isn't just an office park or underutilized retail like Bakery Square.

Again though, I have to bring up my "nothing's on the market in the cheap areas" gripe. If you do a Trulia search for Hazelwood, Pittsburgh, PA, only 4 properties show up after you filter out the RealtyTrac scams. 1 is an empty lot for development, and the other 3 are more likely to be considered "Greenfield." With the cheapest one at $135K, it's certainly not ripe for gentrifiers.

[steindle]

Originally Posted by eccotecc

Hazelwood may be worth looking at by courageous urban pioneers.

I just have to voice my continuing objection to the phrase "urban pioneers," which seems to insinuate that these are enlightened people bringing civilization to the "natives." While I'm not as down on gentrification as many folks on this forum and elsewhere, I would stop short of attributing any more "courage" to people voluntarily moving into poor neighborhoods than is due the folks who have been living in them their entire lives as a matter of circumstance or choice.

I know that this might sound like PC nitpicking, but the implications of the phrase really gets under my skin.

[Lobick]

Curtis is partially right in that it may depend on a large project, but it's this one for Almono:

Rothschild Doyno Collaborative

Previously discussed:
//www.city-data.com/forum/pitts...lwood-ltv.html

[gg]

Originally Posted by steindle

I just have to voice my continuing objection to the phrase "urban pioneers," which seems to insinuate that these are enlightened people bringing civilization to the "natives." While I'm not as down on gentrification as many folks on this forum and elsewhere, I would stop short of attributing any more "courage" to people voluntarily moving into poor neighborhoods than is due the folks who have been living in them their entire lives as a matter of circumstance or choice.

I know that this might sound like PC nitpicking, but the implications of the phrase really gets under my skin.

Good point.

[groar]

i think hazelwood has a lot of potential, but the NEXT place to be gentrified? i don't think so. i think it's a solid enough place to move to though (but my standards are very different from some other people's)

i agree with steindle about the term "urban pioneer" too. although it's sort of appropriate in a way it's not intended to be (hey let's go live in this place where nobody lives! except, yknow, all the people who already live there.)

[eccotecc]

steindle,

What term would you use for people who risk their money on developing marginal neighborhoods?

Would carpetbaggers be more to your liking?

[stburr91]

Originally Posted by ferrarisnowday

I think it depends largely on out the LTV site gets redeveloped. Hazelwood will be well on its way to gentrification if the following are true of the LTV site:

A.) It Integrates with Hazelwood itself (more like South Side Works than the Waterfront)
B.) It better connects Hazelwood to Oakland
C.) It has things to attract people to it as a destination, and isn't just an office park or underutilized retail like Bakery Square.

Again though, I have to bring up my "nothing's on the market in the cheap areas" gripe. If you do a Trulia search for Hazelwood, Pittsburgh, PA, only 4 properties show up after you filter out the RealtyTrac scams. 1 is an empty lot for development, and the other 3 are more likely to be considered "Greenfield." With the cheapest one at $135K, it's certainly not ripe for gentrifiers.

I would a agree that it really depends on the LTV site redevelopment. If it's just a office park, I don't know that the development will have much effect on Hazelwood.

The same thing can be said about the Carrie Furnace site. If they include some nice public amenities, and better connect the site to the adjoining neighborhoods, they could see meaningful improvement. Swissvale seems well positioned for redevelopment, but both Rankin and Braddock could benefit from a good redevelopment plan.

Lets hope they do a better job redeveloping these sites than they did with the Waterfront. If they do, the Mon Valley could start to come back to life.