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CFP and HCurtis (though he turned his opinion before he disappeared) were very doubtful and will likely have to eat their words
I've been to the Ace 4 times now. once for dinner, once for brunch, once for for drinks and dessert and once for coffee. It ranged from pretty crowded to very crowded every time. Brunch is normal prices. Dinner is expensive. Drinks are what seem to be the new standard - $10 cocktails.
Hotel Indigo is open. Brunch there is good and reasonably priced. Apparently they are full most weekends.
Mosites is almost done with the Eastside Bond project along the busway. I haven't heard much about who the tenants are going to be.
The Novum building was bought by one of the Walnut Capital guys. They unfortunately painted over the mural that took up the whole building and people got upset about it. 2 days late they cut windows in the upper level that take up the majority of the property. Rumor is Restoration Hardware downstairs and Duolingo on the upper floor.
As stated above, an Oyster bar opened up on S Highland.
Walnut Capital is moving along with the units at S Highland and Penn.
The biggest problem is the Penn Plaza apartments owned by the Gumbergs. They are putting about 200 people out and the mayor is selling them acres of park land to add to their development. People can blame this on gentrification all that they want, but the owners wanted to build a wal-mart here years ago and also a Lowes. They have been planning to redevelop that large portion of land for a decade. My hope is that it doesn't become a giant parking lot type development like the waterworks. They also bought the Monroe Muffler property on the NW corner of Penn and Negley, so they have 3 of the 4 corners there.
There are plans for mixed use, mixed income housing for the NW corner of Penn Circle - where the detectives building and the farmer's market and other parking lots are. RFP goes out soon.
There are some plans for N Negley that include mixed income housing, possible bike lanes and possibly other new housing.
I have a feeling that it will be a totally unrecognizable business district in 5 years. There are a lot of vacant lots that I predict will have 4-6 story buildings on them sooner than later.
The residential market has been stable and increasing. 25 single family houses or townhouses (non-multi-units) sold on the MLS in 2015 with 65k being the lowest (needed a total renovation) and $550,000 was the highest recorded sales price (4 BR, 3.5 Bath, 2 car garage. Stately house on Rippey St at N St Clair). The median price was $335,000 of those houses, which was 4 Bedrooms, 2 baths, 2 car garage. Mellon St near East Liberty Blvd. There are lots of dumpsters on streets or in yards and permits in windows, so it seems that the investment in the neighborhood is continuing to be steady. There's new construction finishing on N Euclid and started on Hays St. It isn't exploding like Lawrenceville, but that might be a good thing.
You obviously have the lowdown on the market. Is L'ville really exploding still? I have seen a ton of houses in the high range but are people buying at these prices? Some of the housing stock in the area is still pretty old. Are there upcoming developments that people are banking on for further appreciation? It doesn't seem that the area would appeal to the big money types that reside in the east end.
CFP and HCurtis (though he turned his opinion before he disappeared) were very doubtful and will likely have to eat their words.
Keep in mind, you have vested interest in East Liberty in real estate, so your agenda is to promote it. Your views on the area are completely fabricated for your agenda. This needs to be pointed out to people on here.
There is still a ton of crime and the downtown part on Penn looks like crap, not to mention all the buildings around Home Depot and really all over the place. As East Liberty evolves, it is clear it will be some place with cheaply built apartments for the most part that will look very dated in 15 years.
Keep in mind, you have vested interest in East Liberty in real estate, so your agenda is to promote it. Your views on the area are completely fabricated for your agenda. This needs to be pointed out to people on here.
There is still a ton of crime and the downtown part on Penn looks like crap, not to mention all the buildings around Home Depot and really all over the place. As East Liberty evolves, it is clear it will be some place with cheaply built apartments for the most part that will look very dated in 15 years.
I wouldn't say a "ton of crime" but there is some. It is still somewhat run down on Penn, but I know for a fact it is going to change.
I do have a vested interest, but it is pretty minimal. I own a house that I live in and have a few rentals. After improving them, the prices increased to where I predicted they would and if the neighborhood stays exactly how it is today for the next 15 years, I'm content. We all likely agree it will probably continue to grow instead of decline, but I'm not banking on the future. At this point I'm priced out and people are still buying. There's a smaller commercial project I'm looking to do that likely can't be done in East Liberty because prices have gone up so much - especially commercial.
You obviously have the lowdown on the market. Is L'ville really exploding still? I have seen a ton of houses in the high range but are people buying at these prices? Some of the housing stock in the area is still pretty old. Are there upcoming developments that people are banking on for further appreciation? It doesn't seem that the area would appeal to the big money types that reside in the east end.
There's too much on the market in Lawrenceville - especially dated / run down houses and generic flips.
There are 100 houses on the market and of them, 25 are in escrow.
Of those that are under contract:
Top two most expensive:
650k new construction on 38th near Butler.
395k condo in 10th Ward
Median - 3 BR, 1 Bath flip on Hatfield for 242k.
Lowest - 95k frame house on 49th that rents for $800 / mo.
There are 75 for sale that range from:
A developer's personal home on Fisk for 765k
A bunch of new construction for over 500k
Median is a 3 BR, 2 Bath brick row house on Home St for 285k
The residential market has been stable and increasing. 25 single family houses or townhouses (non-multi-units) sold on the MLS in 2015 with 65k being the lowest (needed a total renovation) and $550,000 was the highest recorded sales price (4 BR, 3.5 Bath, 2 car garage. Stately house on Rippey St at N St Clair). The median price was $335,000 of those houses, which was 4 Bedrooms, 2 baths, 2 car garage. Mellon St near East Liberty Blvd. There are lots of dumpsters on streets or in yards and permits in windows, so it seems that the investment in the neighborhood is continuing to be steady. There's new construction finishing on N Euclid and started on Hays St. It isn't exploding like Lawrenceville, but that might be a good thing.
Since moving to Morningside, I have semi-frequently taken the EBA to East Liberty station and walked home, meaning I have become intimately familiar with most every block. I can understand why residential East Liberty isn't exploding in popularity, at least compared to Lawrenceville.
What Northern East Liberty has is big houses with lots of historic charm. It's not, however, particularly walkable. There's not really any businesses within Northern East Liberty's residential streets other than a garage and a barbershop. Basically everywhere north of the Boulevard is more than 10 minutes away from the Penn/Highland intersection. This is important, because a 10-minute walk tends to be the threshold where people who have access to cars choose to drive instead of walking.
As prices have risen in East Liberty, the gap between the cost of these grand old houses and functionally identical ones elsewhere has narrowed. Why buy a big old foursquare in East Liberty over southern Highland Park or Morningside? Hell, you can even buy in Point Breeze at that price point.
Not that I don't think that East Liberty is going to continue to improve - of course it will. It's just that outside of the area right around Penn/Highland it doesn't really have any particular convenience in terms of walkability or transit options.
I think new commercial around the Mellon's Orchard site will help significantly, shortening the walk time to at least some businesses. It would help even more if some more commercial options were interspersed along East Liberty Boulevard and/or Stanton, but I don't see that happening any time soon.
Since moving to Morningside, I have semi-frequently taken the EBA to East Liberty station and walked home, meaning I have become intimately familiar with most every block. I can understand why residential East Liberty isn't exploding in popularity, at least compared to Lawrenceville.
What Northern East Liberty has is big houses with lots of historic charm. It's not, however, particularly walkable. There's not really any businesses within Northern East Liberty's residential streets other than a garage and a barbershop. Basically everywhere north of the Boulevard is more than 10 minutes away from the Penn/Highland intersection. This is important, because a 10-minute walk tends to be the threshold where people who have access to cars choose to drive instead of walking.
As prices have risen in East Liberty, the gap between the cost of these grand old houses and functionally identical ones elsewhere has narrowed. Why buy a big old foursquare in East Liberty over southern Highland Park or Morningside? Hell, you can even buy in Point Breeze at that price point.
Not that I don't think that East Liberty is going to continue to improve - of course it will. It's just that outside of the area right around Penn/Highland it doesn't really have any particular convenience in terms of walkability or transit options.
I think new commercial around the Mellon's Orchard site will help significantly, shortening the walk time to at least some businesses. It would help even more if some more commercial options were interspersed along East Liberty Boulevard and/or Stanton, but I don't see that happening any time soon.
There once was a block of Victorian storefronts along Highland Ave. The block co existed with the Sears that was later replaced by Home Depot. The Home Depot demolished the block but rebuilt that tiny Vento's pizza in the same location. I preferred the former Vento's pizza shop. The demolition of that block caused a dead zone from East Minster to Obama. The GE added street life to the area as well. The Vintage Senior Care facility is not as active as the GE once was.
True about the walkability. Though, it is much more walkable than many neighborhoods, including many parts of Sq Hill. From around Stanton & Highland, it is about a 10 minute walk to Bryant St, 15 mins to the reservoir, Less than 10 Minutes to Highland and broad (union pig, Indigo, etc), 10-15 to either Centre at Highland (Kelly's etc), Target, Whole Foods, the Library & Ace Hotel. Also it is about 10-12 minutes to Penn and Negley (Voluto coffee, Yoga hive, whatever Verde turned into, New place in the old Quiet Storm spot, etc).
I agree that the Mellon's Orchard site will make the area more walkable. Hopefully they are businesses people want to walk to. Also, the Penn & Negley sites will add to it.
I'd love to see the old school at Stanton and Negley converted into a commercial development. Also the old gas station site on Negley where the caribbean food truck is would be a good mixed use site.
People choose the 4 square in East Lib over southern Highland Park based on the house, finishes, and amenities, not the block.
People choose the 4 square in East Lib over southern Highland Park based on the house, finishes, and amenities, not the block.
That was basically my point. Residential East Liberty is no longer a liability in terms of location, but I'm not sure it's an asset either. It's become a pretty typical East End location where people are willing to consider the right house for the right price. Which is a great step forward, but it's pretty different from Lawrenceville, where people buy primarily for the neighborhood.
To close out 2015, the Ace Hotel is open and thriving. I wouldn't know, I've only been there 4 or 5 times. East Liberty is on the downswing. I wish CFP was here to witness how bad it is, with no windows in any of the buildings, fresh oysters at a bar in some other neighborhood, and no foot traffic. Hmmmmm...
Quote:
Originally Posted by PghYinzer
Also, anyone who hasn’t been to Whitfield at the Ace Hotel, go check it it out. I was there for friends and family before the opening and its was amazing, and I have only heard that it has gotten better since.
Quote:
Originally Posted by selltheburgh
I've been to the Ace 4 times now. once for dinner, once for brunch, once for for drinks and dessert and once for coffee. It ranged from pretty crowded to very crowded every time. Brunch is normal prices. Dinner is expensive. Drinks are what seem to be the new standard - $10 cocktails.
I had lunch at Whitfield today. Excellent cheeseburger with fried onions and a pepper jam, plus mandolined potatoes (closer to chips than fries, but fresh). They got "rare but not raw" right, and the burger is presented on a brioche roll. Wonderful service.
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