Downtown Living - Odds and Ends on Pet Friendly Apartment Hunting (Pittsburgh: apartment complex, rentals)

[RonSantoRules]

In prepping for my move from NYC to PGH, I spent an inordinate amount of time on this forum trying to find a good neighborhood for my spouse, my dog, and myself. As a married and kidless couple in our late 20s/early 30s, we eventually settled on Downtown -- we wanted to enjoy city living a bit longer before starting a family, and since I will be working Downtown, this seemed like a good choice. Plus when visiting we ate at Meat & Potatoes and needed to be close to such a good restaurant (only half kidding).

This thread (//www.city-data.com/forum/pitts...2000-a-88.html) sums up everything you will want to know about Downtown, and I found it a great reference as we prepped for our apartment hunt. Nonetheless, I wanted to give an overview of our apartment hunt to hopefully assist others who might be looking Downtown.

Our requirements -- we were looking for a 1BR, dog friendly, within a short distance to Downtown, budget of $1400-$1600. We ended up looking at Downtown, the North Shore, and the Strip District before settling on Downtown. Couple quick points before running down the buildings we looked at:

(1) We realize that $1400 is a good chunk of money for a 1BR, but we were paying more than twice this amount in NYC for a smaller apartment in a high-rise building (our rent varied between $2800 and $3100 during our time in NYC). We were generally impressed at the space and amenities for the Downtown luxury rentals, with $1300-1400, plus between $150-$200 a month for parking, seemingly the going rate for a luxury 1BR rental. Parking seems a wash since I would have needed to most likely drive in daily and pay for parking had we lived somewhere not on a bus line (I don't know that I'm ready to deal with the bus having come from the NYC subway system, which is 24 hours and services nearly all the five boroughs).

(2) Downtown PGH will never compare to NYC, but between Market Square, the Point, the river trails, and Penn Avenue/Cultural District, we were pleasantly surprised with all that we will seemingly have within walking distance. We're looking forward to making the move and getting to explore the area.

(3) Finding a dog friendly rental was not as challenging as expected. I had heard anecdotally that it would be a pain, but this wasn't the case. Many of the Downtown rental buildings are dog friendly but all have an assortment of fees that are common with pet friendly buildings (pet rent, pet deposit, nonrefundable pet fee, etc.). If you don't want pet fees, your best bet is finding a sympathetic landlord on craigslist.

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As I mentioned in this thread (//www.city-data.com/forum/pitts...-downtown.html), the website for the Downtown Pittsburgh Partnership for a list of all the rentals and condos in the Downtown area. Here's the list of the downtown rentals, and I've marked the dog/pet friendly ones:

201 Stanwix Street - 201 Stanwix St (YES dogs)
31st Street Lofts - 3080 Smallman St (YES dogs)
526 Penn Avenue - 526 Penn Ave (YES dogs)
908 Penn Avenue - 908 Penn Avenue (YES dogs)
930 Penn Ave. - 930 Liberty Ave (YES dogs)
947 Liberty Avenue - 947 Liberty Avenue (YES dogs)
Century Building - 7th Street Between Penn Ave. and Ft. Duquesne Blvd. (YES dogs)
Clark Building - 717 Liberty Ave (unsure about dogs)
Cork Factory - 2349 Railroad Street (YES dogs)
Crawford Square - 510 Protectory Place (YES, size and weight restrictions)
Encore on 7th - 100 7th Street (YES dogs)
Fidelity Building - 341 Fourth Ave (No pets)
Heinz Lofts - 300 Heinz Street (No dogs)
Lofts at Liberty - 905 Liberty Ave. (Cats only, no dogs)
Market Square Place - 222 Fifth Avenue (Yes pets)
May Building - 111 Fifth Ave. (No pets)
Midtown Towers - 643 Liberty Ave (No pets)
Morgan at North Shore - 100 Anderson Street (YES dogs)
Penn Garrison - 915 Penn Avenue (YES dogs)
Residences at Market at Fifth - 494 Graeme Street (No pets)
River Vue Apartments - 300 Liberty Ave (Yes pets)
Roosevelt Arms - Penn and 6th (YES dogs)
The Brake House Lofts - 2501 Liberty Avenue (Yes pets)
The Bruno Building - 945 Liberty Ave (Yes pets)
The Lofts at 308 Forbes - 308 Forbes Avenue (No pets)
The Pennsylvanian - 1100 Liberty Avenue (NO dogs)
The Standard Life Building - 345 Fourth Ave (unclear on pets)
Washington Plaza Apartments - 1420 Centre Avenue (YES dogs)

Here's a list of the apartments my spouse and I viewed, all of which were dog friendly, with my general thoughts on each. There really wasn't a whole lot to differentiate the apartment units themselves (other than different floorplans), as all the 1BRs were between 700-800 square feet with decent closet space, W/D in unit, dishwashers (yes this is a nice amenity coming from NYC), and open living spaces (kitchen opening to the main living space):

Encore on 7th - 100 7th Street: Seemed overpriced for the size and location. 1BRs started at $1800 (at least what was available when we looked), and only difference from other buildings seemed to be the higher end finishes. Plus that the parking was attached to the building, but didn't seem worth the price since it would have been another $200 per month to park, on top of the already high rent. Every place had a balcony, which I can imagine would be a nice amenity. Roof deck was underwhelming (on 4th floor, no view) when compared to PMC properties (see below). Confusing elevator - need to punch in a code for each floor, which is good for security but seemed unnecessary since there was a secured entry to the building. Even if money wasn't an issue I'm not sure I would have picked this building.

Morgan at North Shore - 100 Anderson Street: Nearly signed a lease here. More of an apartment complex, while the rest were luxury buildings. All apartments had outdoor storage area and patio/balcony, but many were overlowing with tenants crap, which gave it a junky look. You can access the river trails from the complex itself, which appealed to me as a dog owner. Also had some nice greenspace in the courtyard of the buildings, which you can't find in a highrise rental building. Some of the units face busy roadways but couldn't hear any noise once inside the units. Parking garage is attached to all buildings, with covered walkways to each level of apartments except 2nd floor. Would have required a walk across the bridge to get to Downtown for work (not a deal breaker but not as centrally located). Parking was free but seemed built into the rent since was around $1600 for a 1BR.

Penn Garrison, 526 Penn Avenue, and 201 Stanwix St: I'm grouping all three of these together because they are all run by PMC Properties and had same prices for 1BR (starting at $1300 plus parking). 201 Stanwix was my least favorite of the three buildings (still a nice building just in comparison to the others) - although it had the best views of the three, I liked Penn Avenue buildings better than Stanwix, plus Stanwix still felt like an old office building (the Penn Garrison and 526 Penn felt more like luxury apartment buildings). Both Penn Garrison and 526 Penn were similar - each had gyms, roofdecks, and were smaller buildings with fewer units. 526 Penn is still not fully leased, while Penn Garrison is a few years old but has some nice layouts with 1BRs and 1BR + den. However, both buildings felt similar in layout. I am becoming a big fan of Penn Avenue generally. I also had very positive experiences dealing with the PMC property folks - easy to work with, available to show the buildings.

Cork Factory: We didn't get to view the Cork Factory (Strip District), but this looks like a great building - 1BRs seemed to be on the high end of our price range (lowest was in the mid $1400s), but I can't comment on anything other than what I saw online. Pet fees seemed highest here of any of the buildings we looked at.

Fifth Avenue School Lofts - 1800 Fifth Avenue: Simply hated the area where this building was located. I realize Uptown as a neighborhood has some possibilities, but I couldn't imagine living here despite some great layouts for the Lofts. If I am going to live near/in downtown, I want some walkable amenities, and there simply weren't any here. The woman showing the apartment didn't try to sugarcoat that the area needs work, but this area is still a far away from being "up and coming" and its far removed from the downtown core. Thumbs down in my book given the location.

Looking forward to making the move to Pitt. Hope this is helpful for someone who may be doing the same search we did.

[greg42]

Hey, great rundown! But, did I miss where you actually chose one? Are you still looking? Either way, welcome, eventually.

Your list actually has a couple I wasn't familiar with. I didn't know of Lofts at 308 Forbes or Standard Life as apartment conversions. Or if I did, I had forgotten.

You did actually miss one, despite listing things that never would be something you would look at such as the May Building. There is a mixed use building at 625 Stanwix. They were built as apartments but some are used as offices these days. You're not missing anything but it is one last place if you're doing an exhaustive list.

Couple tidbits: PMC purchased Penn Garrison, which was converted several years ago by a different firm. That may account for some of the difference. Certainly they have longer experience managing apartments (in Philly) so that may account for the better service experience. Some of the other building owners might be slightly out of their element in that, although certainly Lincoln (Encore) and Morgan are very large apartment managers. (BTW, Lincoln built the North Shore place originally, sold to Morgan later. Nice place, I viewed a unit once when it first opened.)

Penn Garrison is also an office building (GNC) even if 201 Stanwix (Verizon) feels more like one. 526 Penn is not an office building or wasn't in its last incarnation, I think. It was set up for some kind of residence, dorm, something like that I believe, then vacant for a while. PMC is responsible for the conversion of 201 Stanwix and 526 Penn. But like I said, it was a prior owner that converted Penn Garrison. (PMC may have purchased before an expansion was done, can't remember.)

PMC should have one more property coming online on 6th Avenue. Not sure what is up there, perhaps dealing with the fact that it was a multi-tenant building whereas most of their other buys were being vacated by a single tenant or already vacant.

Cork Factory has been the hip and happening place (relatively, I suppose ) for a while seems like. Although it didn't have much competition for a while.

And yeah, Uptown is still a stretch. You have to be really willing to make that work for you, wouldn't blame anyone for not wanting to.

[Gee Whiz]

Is the OP originally from Chicago? Ron Santo was a great third basemen for the Cubs.

[SteelCityRising]

Thanks so much for this very helpful, very informative, and quite exhaustive list, and welcome in advance to our lovely city!

If our joint income was higher I'd probably scrap my dream of owning a house in favor of renting Downtown long-term. As it stands now I would be able to swing $700/month-$800/month on my own, but my partner doesn't make nearly as much and would only be able to chip in $400/month, at most, towards rent. This brings our maximum budget for a 1-BR rental from $1,400/month-$1,600/month down to a more realistic $1,100/month-$1,200/month, which is out of the question for Downtown. We own a small dog, and I've mentioned the trials and tribulations of trying to secure a dog-friendly rental in Pittsburgh on here in the past. You're correct that most higher-end buildings and complex in Pittsburgh DO accept dogs (at least small ones) for an additional fee. Most Pittsburghers can't afford $1,400/month+ in rent alone for a 1-BR PLUS pet rent, so that leaves us finding the rare "dog-friendly" rental on CraigsList, as most private landlords here know the market is tight and don't want to rent to a pet owner when they absolutely don't need to. We were fortunate in that I rented from my landlady for a year-and-a-half prior to her agreeing to let us move my partner's dog in because she had grown to trust me. Otherwise there's NO other dog-friendly apartments available right now in my neighborhood. While the rents your finding Downtown are a "bargain" compared to NYC they are exorbitant compared to what most Pittsburghers can afford due to our supressed wages.

Downtown has improved by leaps and bounds even just since I moved here in 2010. We live about a 45-minute walk from Market Square, and I love heading there on my weekdays off in the warmer weather to sit and enjoy lunch at a patio table while people-watching or listening to a band. There are a lot of great restaurants such as Meat & Potatoes (which you've already discovered), Winghart's, NoLA, Il Pizzaiolo (spelling?), Seviche, Six Penn, etc. Macy's is great. Station Square is right across the Smithfield Street Bridge in one direction, and in the other direction you have PNC Park, Heinz Field, Stage AE, Rivers Casino, Andy Warhol Museum, National Aviary, Childrens' Museum, and West Park on the North Shore/Lower North Side. There's always something going on in the Cultural District. The Strip District is fun on weekend mornings as well. You'll really love being close to Point State Park for the Three Rivers Arts Festival!

[RonSantoRules]

Originally Posted by Gee Whiz

Is the OP originally from Chicago? Ron Santo was a great third basemen for the Cubs.

Not originally from Chicago but I do have family there. I'm looking forward to being in NL Central country and getting to see my Cubs play the Pirates at PNC Park. It wasn't too long ago that the Pirates were an easy win for the Cubs, and now the tables are turned, to say the least.

Originally Posted by greg42

Couple tidbits: PMC purchased Penn Garrison, which was converted several years ago by a different firm. That may account for some of the difference. Certainly they have longer experience managing apartments (in Philly) so that may account for the better service experience. Some of the other building owners might be slightly out of their element in that, although certainly Lincoln (Encore) and Morgan are very large apartment managers. (BTW, Lincoln built the North Shore place originally, sold to Morgan later. Nice place, I viewed a unit once when it first opened.)

Penn Garrison is also an office building (GNC) even if 201 Stanwix (Verizon) feels more like one. 526 Penn is not an office building or wasn't in its last incarnation, I think. It was set up for some kind of residence, dorm, something like that I believe, then vacant for a while. PMC is responsible for the conversion of 201 Stanwix and 526 Penn. But like I said, it was a prior owner that converted Penn Garrison. (PMC may have purchased before an expansion was done, can't remember.)

PMC should have one more property coming online on 6th Avenue. Not sure what is up there, perhaps dealing with the fact that it was a multi-tenant building whereas most of their other buys were being vacated by a single tenant or already vacant.

Great info, and I ended up picking one of the PMC buildings. Let's hope they are as good as landlords as they were at selling me on their buildings. They had most reasonable rents and pet fees (no pet rent, only $250 pet fee) of any of the buildings we looked at on our hunt. Only thing that might be an issue is that parking isn't connected to any of their buildings, which isn't a huge issue but it may be a pain in the winter when it would be nice to just hop in your car without having to walk outside and down the street to a garage.

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

Downtown has improved by leaps and bounds even just since I moved here in 2010. We live about a 45-minute walk from Market Square, and I love heading there on my weekdays off in the warmer weather to sit and enjoy lunch at a patio table while people-watching or listening to a band. There are a lot of great restaurants such as Meat & Potatoes (which you've already discovered), Winghart's, NoLA, Il Pizzaiolo (spelling?), Seviche, Six Penn, etc. Macy's is great. Station Square is right across the Smithfield Street Bridge in one direction, and in the other direction you have PNC Park, Heinz Field, Stage AE, Rivers Casino, Andy Warhol Museum, National Aviary, Childrens' Museum, and West Park on the North Shore/Lower North Side. There's always something going on in the Cultural District. The Strip District is fun on weekend mornings as well. You'll really love being close to Point State Park for the Three Rivers Arts Festival!

Great that our initial thoughts about being downtown should be spot on. We came to look at apartments when they had the ice rink up for the holidays and when there was a weekend Christmas fair in Market Square - seemed like plenty was going on down there on the weekdays and weekends to keep you busy one way or another. My only concern is whether we will get hit with serious traffic and crowds before and after Pirates and Steelers games. I can live with the 8 home football games per year, but will be interesting to see whether this will be an issue living downtown (I don't think it will be but now that the Pirates are selling out it may get crowded).

[jimsing59]

I'm glad to see more dog-friendly apartments in Pittsburgh but it is also important to get an apartment that has a scenic view. When you look out your window you don't want to see the building next to you but, a view of the skyline, of the river, and of the North Shore.

[Hopes]

I'm not surprised upscale rentals are more accepting of pets. Great list. We need to remember to link this thread when someone is interested in downtown.

[Minx9114]

Most apartment communities are very accepting of pets these days. Pets are family plus it is an income maker with pet fees for the property. I've managed large communities for over 20 years and never have had a non dog or cat property. Good luck with your new place!

[highlanderfil]

Thanks for this list, OP! I'm looking at a couple of properties Downtown but my budget is a bit lower. I've got two appointments scheduled on Monday, one at Washington Plaza, one at 915 Penn. No dog here, though, but I do have a cat...