Looking for apartment near CMU (Pittsburgh, York: 2013, apartment complex, condominium)

[moon16]

We will be moving to pittsburgh soon. My husband will work in Carnegie Mellon University(CMU). We want to live somewhere near CMU where indian families live. Can someone suggest some good apartment complex names?

Our first preference is to live near CMU where indian families/indians live.
If not, it will be fine for us to live little far where indian families live if direct public transportation is there.


Thanks in advance for your help!!!

[SteelCityRising]

Good morning!

Welcome in advance to Pittsburgh! I've made deliveries daily to CMU students and faculty members, and I can assure you it's a great institution of higher learning---albeit it seems like it has a greater aura of competitiveness (stress) than the nearby University of Pittsburgh. I would say there seems to be more students/faculty from China at the school than students from India (maybe about the same number of Indian students/faculty as Korean students/faculty). Most CMU professionals live in the nearby neighborhoods of Squirrel Hill or Shadyside, both of which also happen to be some of the most expensive neighborhoods in the city because they are very safe; very aesthetically-pleasing; and have walkable business districts with shops and restaurants.

From my off-campus deliveries it seems like the densest concentration of Indians/Indian-Americans are in apartment complexes along Centre Avenue in Shadyside, between Neville Street and Negley Avenue. I know there are quite a few Indians living in the Essex House (5701 Centre Avenue). I delivered to two separate Indian 20-somethings in that building yesterday. That building is nice; has off-street parking; has a friendly doorman; and is in a convenient location within walking distance of Whole Foods, Target, Trader Joe's, and Giant Eagle Market District (upscale local grocery store chain). If you go on Google Maps street view and "walk" up and down Centre Avenue between those streets you'll see a lot of apartment buildings, and I'd say ~50% of the residents of these buildings are Asian/Asian-American (albeit as I said it seems like there are more Chinese here than Indians). Another building not along Centre Avenue that seems to have a lot of Indian families is the Kenmawr at 401 Shady Avenue. You could walk two blocks to Fifth Avenue and hop a bus that will take you almost right to CMU.

The densest concentration of Indian families in the metropolitan area is probably southwest of the city in the suburb of Scott Township; however, I would NOT advise living there because it is difficult to get to CMU from there via public transportation. CMU is east of Downtown, and almost all of our city's bus lines and train lines serve Downtown first, which means if you don't live east of Downtown (by CMU) you'd probably have to take two buses or a train and a bus to get to campus. I'd rather just stick to ONE bus.

[speagles84]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

Good morning!

Welcome in advance to Pittsburgh! I've made deliveries daily to CMU students and faculty members, and I can assure you it's a great institution of higher learning---albeit it seems like it has a greater aura of competitiveness (stress) than the nearby University of Pittsburgh. I would say there seems to be more students/faculty from China at the school than students from India (maybe about the same number of Indian students/faculty as Korean students/faculty). Most CMU professionals live in the nearby neighborhoods of Squirrel Hill or Shadyside, both of which also happen to be some of the most expensive neighborhoods in the city because they are very safe; very aesthetically-pleasing; and have walkable business districts with shops and restaurants.

From my off-campus deliveries it seems like the densest concentration of Indians/Indian-Americans are in apartment complexes along Centre Avenue in Shadyside, between Neville Street and Negley Avenue. I know there are quite a few Indians living in the Essex House (5701 Centre Avenue). I delivered to two separate Indian 20-somethings in that building yesterday. That building is nice; has off-street parking; has a friendly doorman; and is in a convenient location within walking distance of Whole Foods, Target, Trader Joe's, and Giant Eagle Market District (upscale local grocery store chain). If you go on Google Maps street view and "walk" up and down Centre Avenue between those streets you'll see a lot of apartment buildings, and I'd say ~50% of the residents of these buildings are Asian/Asian-American (albeit as I said it seems like there are more Chinese here than Indians). Another building not along Centre Avenue that seems to have a lot of Indian families is the Kenmawr at 401 Shady Avenue. You could walk two blocks to Fifth Avenue and hop a bus that will take you almost right to CMU.

The densest concentration of Indian families in the metropolitan area is probably southwest of the city in the suburb of Scott Township; however, I would NOT advise living there because it is difficult to get to CMU from there via public transportation. CMU is east of Downtown, and almost all of our city's bus lines and train lines serve Downtown first, which means if you don't live east of Downtown (by CMU) you'd probably have to take two buses or a train and a bus to get to campus. I'd rather just stick to ONE bus.

Good advice one again by SCR. I agree with everything he said here. Shadyside is one of the most diverse areas in the region, I know there is a significant Indian population there. Scott Township is a nice place as well, however it's a very dense suburban area with less public transit. If you were looking for a quieter area and not commuting to oakland it would be fine.

[I_Like_Spam]

Originally Posted by moon16

We will be moving to pittsburgh soon. My husband will work in Carnegie Mellon University(CMU). We want to live somewhere near CMU where indian families live. Can someone suggest some good apartment complex names?

Our first preference is to live near CMU where indian families/indians live.
If not, it will be fine for us to live little far where indian families live if direct public transportation is there.


Thanks in advance for your help!!!

Squirrel Hill is adjacent to CMU, has good public transport to the campus and a pretty fair number of people from all over the globe including India. There is an Indian Christian Church on Beechwood, not far from where Burger King used to be.

[eschaton]

As others have noted, Pittsburgh doesn't really have any discrete "Indian apartment complexes" in the city. The only one in the suburbs is in Scott Township, and really only works when commuting into Downtown, not to Oakland (where CMU is).

Here's a "racial dot map" of Pittsburgh from 2010. Asians (both South and East) are marked in red.



The red dot to the Southwest is the Carriage Park Apartments in Scott Township others have mentioned. Within the city, Asians live for the most part in three areas - North Oakland, Shadyside, and Squirrel Hill. It can't be seen in detail on this map, but all of the Asian-heavy blocks are areas with apartment buildings rather than houses. So choosing to live pretty much anywhere with major apartment complexes will result in living where a lot of Asians are located.

Keep in mind a high proportion of the City of Pittsburgh's Indian community in the city will quite possibly be younger than your family - childless undergraduates and graduate students. Some of the graduate students definitely have small children, but this does not seem to be the norm.

[SteelCityRising]

I also forgot to mention the Amberson Towers Apartments at 5 Bayard Road. Those are walking distance to CMU. They seem to be split between elderly whites (in the condominium high-rise) and a diverse mixture of mostly younger people in the surrounding shorter buildings.

[moon16]

Originally Posted by moon16

We will be moving to pittsburgh soon. My husband will work in Carnegie Mellon University(CMU). We want to live somewhere near CMU where indian families live. Can someone suggest some good apartment complex names?

Our first preference is to live near CMU where indian families/indians live.
If not, it will be fine for us to live little far where indian families live if direct public transportation is there.


Thanks in advance for your help!!!

Thank you all for your reply.
We don't need everyone in the apartment to be Indian or anything like that, we are OK if there are few Indian families (like 4/5 families) living either in the same apartment building or in the neighborhood buildings. We have a car, so it is fine if the apartment is not near the bus or train line as long as it is not very far from CMU.
Could you please suggest any good apartment/rental agency names within 5 miles range from CMU?

[RogersParkTransplant]

Look up the Royal York -- lots of Pitt faculty live there, and it's about a block from a nice Indian grocery store. People seem happy enough with the management, and the company owns a few buildings in that same part of Oakland.