Why? I just don't understand... (Pittsburgh, Ross Township: neighborhoods, movie theaters, pros and cons)

[Jcrouzzo]

Whats the deal?

Why does it seem like the North Hills are completely dead? Very little new worthwhile development, and what is coming in is boring and stale. I currently live in Ross and can't wait to get out of here! I feel like I'm suffocating under the misery of the whole area.

In contrast; however, the south hills seems to be alive and growing. I head down south theres just a much better more active vibe. Theres a better selection, a broader more diverse and unique selection of stores. The people are friendlier, and it just feels like a happier place to be.

What gives? any opinions?

[Love2Golf09]

Could you be a little more specific, because I'm kind of baffled by your comments. Where is the development in the south hills? What new stores are you talking about in the south hills? I'm all over the south hills and I really can't think of any new strip malls, plazas, or shopping centers there. Personally, I'm a south hills kind of guy. I feel more comfortable there since I have been around that area since a child and have a lot less experience in the north hills. However, I hate the traffic in the south hills. It's nearly impossible to get east to west there. Try going from 79 to 51. Impossible! The north hills is a lot less crowded, less traffic, and is more spread out. But, I feel like a fish out of water in the north hills. Cranberry seems so isolated to me and I hate that 228 is the only major road there. So much traffic because of that. So, there are pros and cons to both, but I really don't see the new development that you speak of and the happier stuff is all subjective.

[Jcrouzzo]

Well... You raise excellent points.

I guess i made it sound like my emphasis was on new retail, when - while that was a big part of it- I'm primarily referring to a strong and excellent mix of existing retail in addition to just the whole gestalt of it all. But I will try to bring some clarity.

The first example i can think of is both the south hills and the north hills have/are receiving 2 new grocery stores.

The south hills received trader joes, and the fresh market. Both awesome!

The north hills received Bottom dollar, and value king.... Really? Median household income in the surrounding 5 miles is probably around 70 grand and you choose 2 bottom scrapers? Don't get me wrong i just checked out bottom dollar foods and on a lot of levels you can't beat their pricing, but still I would have found TJ's so much more useful.

The second example I can think of is related to movie theaters.

First if you are in north hills you get one choice. Good old rave cinemas. Every other theater has either closed or been demolished, not that there were many choices to begin with! If you feel like a drive you can get to the waterworks cinemas, cranberry cinemas, or if you really want a hike/daytrip the pittsburgh mills.

If you head down south hills, you've got your choice of 3 or 4 different theaters. First theres the cinemark multiplexes at SHV or the smaller 6 screen at the galleria. You have larger developments a little further away, such as the cinemark megaplexes in bridgeville and settlers ridge, the lowes 22 in the water front, or even the bargain cinemas over by century three. You may even have future unique choices in the hollywood theater in dormant, or the denis in uptown mt leb. Some of these aren't the best examples, but it does show my point.

I could think of several more examples as to my train of thought but it is leading to what i now see as one simple question.

Present/future development notwithstanding why has south hills developed into a more vibrant/bustling cohesive and well rounded collections of suburbs than north hills?

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by Jcrouzzo

The south hills received trader joes, and the fresh market. Both awesome!

The north hills received Bottom dollar, and value king.... Really? Median household income in the surrounding 5 miles is probably around 70 grand and you choose 2 bottom scrapers? Don't get me wrong i just checked out bottom dollar foods and on a lot of levels you can't beat their pricing, but still I would have found TJ's so much more useful.

The North Hills has Whole Foods.

Originally Posted by Jcrouzzo

First if you are in north hills you get one choice. Good old rave cinemas. Every other theater has either closed or been demolished, not that there were many choices to begin with! If you feel like a drive you can get to the waterworks cinemas, cranberry cinemas, or if you really want a hike/daytrip the pittsburgh mills.

If you head down south hills, you've got your choice of 3 or 4 different theaters. First theres the cinemark multiplexes at SHV or the smaller 6 screen at the galleria. You have larger developments a little further away, such as the cinemark megaplexes in bridgeville and settlers ridge, the lowes 22 in the water front, or even the bargain cinemas over by century three. You may even have future unique choices in the hollywood theater in dormant, or the denis in uptown mt leb. Some of these aren't the best examples, but it does show my point.

Pittsburgh Mills isn't any further away from where you live than the Waterfront is from people who live in Mt. Lebanon. As a matter of fact, I don't think the Waterfront qualifies as South Hills. As a matter of fact, I'd qualify the Waterfront as more East than South. Regardless, it's 30 minutes from Bridgeville to the Waterfront. It's 30 minutes from Ross Township to the Pittsburgh Mills and it's 26 minutes from Ross Township to Cranberry. The Pittsburgh Mills and Cranberry are 35 minutes away from each other.

Originally Posted by Jcrouzzo

Present/future development notwithstanding why has south hills developed into a more vibrantt/bustling cohesive and well rounded collections of suburbs than north hills?

The South Hills has the appearance of being vibrant and bustling because people are jam packed in there due to the neighborhoods being older, everything is closer together, and the road systems are older. The North Hills has more sprawl because yard sizes are bigger, roads systems are wider and newer.

[sskink]

If we're talking specifically about TJs/FM, I'd suggest there's more far demand for high-end "crunchy" stuff in the So. Hills. Different demographic/psychographic.

[Burghgirl17]

Originally Posted by Jcrouzzo

The south hills received trader joes, and the fresh market. Both awesome!

The north hills received Bottom dollar, and value king....

Don't you worry, the South Hills has their cheapy grocery stores - we have several Bottom Dollars.

The South Hills is spread out over a much wider area than the North Hills. Not everything is super close by, depending on where you live.

And I would happily exchange my South Hills retail for the North Hills commute!

Grass is always greener!

[Tinare]

There are trade-offs in both areas. If I'm going to go to the mall, which I do rarely, but I prefer Ross Park because there's more in one place than SHV. But in general I like living in the South Hills.

[selltheburgh]

Didn't they just revamp Ross Park Mall to make it more upscale? That was just a few years ago.

I agree with what Hopes said about the South Hills being less sprawled out, which makes it appear to be more vibrant.

Also, the immediate North Hills gets skipped a lot for Cranberry and Wexford development.

I've lived in the South Hills and spent enough time in the North Hills to realize that the East End (city including strip and Lawrenceville, but not the east suburbs) is going to continue seeing the most development in the region with downtown being up there as well.

[airwave09]

The North Hills has way more new development going on currently, mainly because there is so much green space still available to build on. Have you been up the McKnight road corridor towards Wexford recently? A huge new development is being build right off the road in multiple phases. And there is Whole foods and Giant Eagle market district nearby. All of the new money is in the Northern suburbs.

[Copanut]

Try driving more than 1 mile and not hit a traffic light.

I lived in the SH for 20 years, I prefer the North.