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Also... the thread is about suburbs and gentrification, and I have no doubt that changes the calculus. Thus, I mentioned school districts.
"Gentrification" generally does not apply to the suburbs.
And you cannot deny that historically speaking, most gentrifiers -- those, at least, on the leading edge of the gentrification, whom I consider to be the true "gentrifiers" (since people who move in after the ball has started rolling, in my opinion, are not true gentrifiers) -- are by their nature intrepid urban pioneers who are generally young, single, childless, and quite often gay.
"Gentrification" generally does not apply to the suburbs.
And you cannot deny that historically speaking, most gentrifiers -- those, at least, on the leading edge of the gentrification, whom I consider to be the true "gentrifiers" (since people who move in after the ball has started rolling, in my opinion, are not true gentrifiers) -- are by their nature intrepid urban pioneers who are generally young, single, childless, and quite often gay.
My experience in L'ville ion the 1990s was that the urban pioneers there were generally young but not all, some single, some married, some straight and some gay, and some had children, some did not. The thing they had in common was restoring or renovating the houses they lived in.
Gentrification merely means the replacement of a lower economic stratum in a neighborhood with a higher one. it doesn't have to start out poor, it can start out lower-middle class, or transition from simply middle class to out-and-out wealthy.
Anyway, regarding the OP, I think arguably gentrification has already started on a small scale in three "suburbs."
First, a fair amount of younger renters in Lawrenceville have begun buying in Millvale. Millvale doesn't have good bones in terms of housing stock (to say the least) but it's dirt cheap, and has great access to downtown (much closer than well over half the city proper. I know of two microbreweries which have opened up there recently. Of course the borough has long had Mr. Smalls, along with a great French bakery, which are also commercial draws. I fully expect Millvale to be the next "hipster" area, although I don't see it taking off the way Lawrenceville did so quickly, and instead staying at a slow burn for a decade or more.
Second is Carnegie. I don't know as much about this area, but my understanding is the core commercial district has really turned around in recent years, with an independent cofeeshop, more upscale drinking options, and a lot of dining and shopping options. I haven't heard as much regarding residential, but given it's the terminus of the West Busway there is a lot of potential for it to become a new hot commuter suburb.
Third is Wilkinsburg. Wilkinsburg has actually been gentrifying for a long time, when you consider that the Regent Square and Peebles Square neighborhoods have been stable for decades. The line of gentrification is slowly moving north West of the busway, and has arguably crossed in the Hamnett Place area already. I could see the mostly dead business district on Wood Street coming back before Penn though - it will be a long time before the bulk of Wilkinsburg is cleaned up, unless some East-Liberty style heavy outside intervention is involved.
As for the next tier, I agree with others that the most likely options are the Homestead area (which includes parts of West Homestead and Munhall, the borders are weird there), Dormont, and Sharpsburg. All of them have the right bones to gentrify.
Further out, I think Etna, Bellvue, and Swissvale (aside from Regent Square, which is already gentrified) all have potential, although they all are either geographically somewhat more distant from the core of the city, or have less comprehensive business districts.
Seeing as I am originally from Munhall I think it would be great if it became gentrified. The Homestead Park part of it already has some beautiful and relatively inexpensive houses along Main Street and off of Main Street on the side of it that has Park school on it. The buildings which house the businesses just need a little spiffing up, maybe some attractive looking glass facades or some colorful paint perhaps?
"Gentrification" generally does not apply to the suburbs.
And you cannot deny that historically speaking, most gentrifiers -- those, at least, on the leading edge of the gentrification, whom I consider to be the true "gentrifiers" (since people who move in after the ball has started rolling, in my opinion, are not true gentrifiers) -- are by their nature intrepid urban pioneers who are generally young, single, childless, and quite often gay.
Sure, I agree about the use of the word "gentrification". And yet, to repeat myself, I was addressing this thread specifically, and you are shifting the discussion to match your definition of the word. You see, I don't think the people you are talking about are "generally" moving to the suburbs at all... and thus, are not relevant to this specific thread. If we were talking about gentrification in city neighborhoods, I might be inclined to agree with your point.
"Too many people are moving here into Cranberry Township, so I'm going to buy a half-acre lot in this new development even further out in Jackson Township and then whine in 20 years when Jackson Township becomes the next Cranberry Township." I firmly believe that at some point during my lifetime everything between the City of Butler and the Allegheny County line will be nothing but tacky urban sprawl. Those people who are tiring of Cranberry Township aren't going to move into Evans City Borough or Zelienople Borough. They'll want a comparable lifestyle of living on a sidewalkless cul-de-sac where they won't have to be on top of their neighbors.
As much as we urbanites like to promote urban living I don't ever foresee urban sprawl becoming "out of fashion". Americans aren't a very bright bunch. Gas prices are down (temporarily, of course), yet I've seen friends of friends on Facebook rushing and posting pictures of their brand new gas-guzzlers. These same people will be complaining in a year when gas prices are $4.19/gallon, adjusted for a return to normal pricing coupled with higher state and Federal fuel taxes by then, as if they never saw it coming.
I'd love to live to see the day when Wilkinsburg, Millvale, Sharpsburg, and Etna are all "nice" places to live instead of looking so worn-out and dumpy. I think Wilkinsburg and Millvale have the best potential to gentrify due to the continued growth of East Liberty and Lawrenceville, respectively. A good friend of ours lives in a home he restored in the Hamnett Place section of Wilkinsburg, and I really like that neighborhood. Just a few blocks away, though, and "sketchy" Wilkinsburg comes back into play. Millvale isn't sketchy at all, but it just looks like a flood hit it last year---not years ago. I'm guessing most people in Millvale don't maintain their properties or renovate them thinking "they'll just get flooded again anyways". As long as flooding remains a concern for about half of Millvale I'd never move there.
I agree, minus the loaded normative components.
Wilkinsburg is already starting to take off, albeit by virtue of realtors successfully stretching the Regent Square label. The busway is, and likely will remain for quite some time, a big fat dividing line.
First a question, where is the Princeton Park section of Wilkinsburg? I have heard of it but have no idea where it is.
I think Swissvale is due to come back. The busway and the fact that it is an extension of the East End helps. The thing that helps it is that Pittsburgh is so cheap even in affluent areas that for an area to turn the corner it has to have super cheap housing. Swissvale does.
The only way for Millvale to come back quicker is for the home buyers to suddenly care about the exterior of their houses. Regardless of how nice the kitchen is a neighborhood won't look nice until the exterior of the houses improve.
Surprised our resident of Crafton hasn't chimed in with Crafton. I think it is coming back. Same with Dormont. Both are trending upward in my opinion.
Pittsburgh might be cheap compared to other major cities, but not compared to the majority of small town America. Even when comparing its affordability to some other major cities, it can actually be EXPENSIVE in some ways, believe it or not. For example, according to rentjungle, as of December 2014, Pittsburgh's average rent was $1006, as opposed to Cleveland's average rent, which was $768, or Buffalo's average rent, which was $873, or Louisville's average rent, which was $884. Also, according to http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2012/...e-homes/6.html Buffalo's median home price is $94,000 . That is relatively inexpensive compared to Pittsburgh's median home value, which is $140,000 according to http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburg....html?page=all. Further more, according to Zillow, the median listing price of homes in Louisville is $109,900 and the median price of homes actually sold is $127,100. Finally, according to Trulia, the median sales price for homes in Cleveland is $93,000. As far as property taxes, according to https://www.city-data.com/city/Cleveland-Ohio.html the average cost of those in Cleveland as of 2012 was $1,398. Compare that to Pittsburgh's average property taxes, which I can't find any sources to cite, but I know as a fact are a little under $3,000. The average cost of property taxes in Buffalo, according to www.city-data.com/city/Buffalo-New-York.html was $1,469 as of 2012. The average in Louisville? According to www.city-data.com/city/Louisville-Colorado.htm $2,202, still a LITTLE cheaper than Pittsburgh's at least.
eschaton, people consider Swissvale to be too far? Sorry, but those people are being way to picky in regards to closeness to the city. If you look at where it's located on a map on the Wikipedia page about it it's western edge borders the eastern edge of the city core.
Pittsburgh might be cheap compared to other major cities, but not compared to the majority of small town America. Even when comparing its affordability to some other major cities it can actually be expensive in some ways. For example, according to rentjungle, as of December 2014, Pittsburgh's average rent was $1006, as opposed to Cleveland's average rent, which was $768, or Buffalo's average rent, which was $873, or Louisville's average rent, which was $884. According to bankrate.com, Cleveland is also cheaper than Pittsburgh when it comes to total energy, an optometrist appointment, part. electrical, washer repair, vet services, news paper, tire balance, certain food costs, tennis balls, klennex and mortgage rates. According to bankrate, Buffalo is also cheaper than Pittsburgh when it comes to Lipitor, an eye doctor's appointment, doctor visits in general, dentist appointments, washer repair, vet services, a trip to the beauty salon, women's pants, a man's shirt, a news paper, a hair cut, a tire balance, the dry cleaners, ibuprofen, beer, certain food costs and mortgage rates. According to bankrate, Louisville is cheaper in regards to payment plus interest, Lipitor, total energy, the eye doctor, doctor visits in general, total energy, other energy, part. electrical, washer repair, vet services, the beauty salon, women's pants, the news paper, a hair cut, a tire balance, some food costs and the mortgage rate.
Buffalo has cheaper Lipitor and women's pants? Why in God's great name haven't I moved there?!
OK, those were poor examples, I'll admit, but still, it doesn't take away from the fact that the rent is cheaper in those cities than they are here, which I see you have nothing to say about.
Okay. The rent is cheaper in those cities because they have less to offer. Cleveland is on its way back, but it's still behind Pittsburgh's train on the urban revitalization tracks. In addition, Cleveland has much fewer desirable city neighborhoods, but significantly more desirable suburbs, so apples-to-apples neighborhood comparisons would be much more helpful than aggregate statistics. Buffalo has theoretical potential, but I don't see it getting its ducks in a row anytime soon. As for Louisville, I've never been, but I believe my friend's fiancee, who's a native, when he says it's sprawled out and has fairly little to offer, though there are certainly far worse places to live, and I'm sure it has its charms and upsides, like every city.
How's that?
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