Relocating from NYC to Wilkinsburg, PA (Braddock: upper-class, home, neighborhoods)

[Uptown kid]

If he property is in Franklin/Highschool, Hunter Park, Park Tringle, Upper Penn parts of Hammlet Place, Singer Place, Princeton Park, or a few southern streets in Laketown change your mind and stay away! Wilkinsburg is home to the notorious LAW street gang, and in the areas above they either undergroundly claim turf or they totally overrun the place. Wilkinsburg LAWs still feud with: Homewood Crip sets, East Hills Blood sets, and the Eastwood Gang & Lincoln Park Gangstas of Penn Hills. It seems like the tension is still so high in the Franklin area that if you walked wearing red clothing or drove around in a slick red sports car you'd get shot. Yet other than in the BAD places Wilkinsburg is quite a NICE place to call home. Now if the property in question isnt located in a bad area ignore what I've posted & go for it! Wilkinsburg is a transitional nieghborhood & maybe within the next 10yrs riff-raff/crime/drugs/thug culture will spread out of Wilkinsburg. Agian as of now Hell no! ~Im no longer a resident

[gameguy56]

It's too bad that the 'core' of downtown Wilkinsburg is in the "In Decline" stage...

[gg]

Originally Posted by gameguy56

It's too bad that the 'core' of downtown Wilkinsburg is in the "In Decline" stage...

I am a bit confused by this. I was just there yesterday and drove around the backstreets looking for my place to get my tomato plants, which I couldn't find, but overall the area looked okay. The downtown looks better than 5 years ago. I wouldn't live there, but I am too old for all that, but it doesn't seem all that bad to me. The downtown looks pretty stylish these days if you ask me.

[BrianTH]

I agree the downtown section is starting to turn around, although it kinda depends on where you are talking about (the farther east the less of a turnaround).

[squarian]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

The downtown looks better than 5 years ago...The downtown looks pretty stylish these days if you ask me.

Not sure I'd go so far as to say "stylish", but there really has been a marked change in the last 5-10 years. Certain prophets here (looking at you, Brian) often say that change can happen in downtrodden parts of Pittsburgh faster than Pittsburghers generally believe, and that message is often met with a certain skepticism, but anyone who knew Wilkinsburg's business district then and knows it now has good reason to think it.

On the other hand, it'll be a long while before Penn Ave in Wilkinsburg attracts the J. Crew/Banana Republic/Club Monaco retail, and I'm not expecting to reserve a table at any chic sidewalk cafes there any time soon.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by squarian

On the other hand, it'll be a long while before Penn Ave in Wilkinsburg attracts the J. Crew/Banana Republic/Club Monaco retail, and I'm not expecting to reserve a table at any chic sidewalk cafes there any time soon.

Dusting off my crystal ball . . .

. . . I could actually see an Eastside-type development in Wilkinsburg at some point in the medium-term future (meaning not next year, but not 30 years either). I could also see new transit-oriented development around the Busway completely changing the market for the nearer parts of the commercial area.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by squarian

On the other hand, it'll be a long while before Penn Ave in Wilkinsburg attracts the J. Crew/Banana Republic/Club Monaco retail, and I'm not expecting to reserve a table at any chic sidewalk cafes there any time soon.

To be quite honest with you I'd prefer it if Penn Avenue in Wilkinsburg never attracted these types of establishments. We already have plentiful areas that are thriving and "yuppified" (the Ellsworth, Walnut, and Highland business districts in Shadyside, Forbes & Murray in Squirrel Hill, Reynolds Street in Point Breeze, Ross Park Mall and its immediate surroundings, Downtown Sewickley, parts of Downtown Pittsburgh, increasingly Downtown Oakmont, Mt. Lebanon, etc.) We need more vital Main Street environments that cater to the working-class, and I feel as if that's the direction Wilkinsburg should head towards.

Right now there's too many low-scale businesses lining Wilkinsburg's main drag (think cash-checking places, furniture rental places, no-credit-necessary auto lots, fast-food restaurants, etc.) I'd like to see those dissipate; however, there's a big leap from there to Gucci, Starbuck's, and Banana Republic.

Some things I already like on the main drag?
-Rainbow Fashions
-Salvatore's Pizzeria (albeit the building doesn't fit with the historic nature of the rest of the business district)
-The African-American barber shop (don't remember it's name)
-The soul food restaurant (also don't remember it's name)

Wilkinsburg needs to assert itself as the region's emerging middle-class African-American mecca. Three of those four businesses I listed cater to a predominantly black demographic, and I feel as if the business district could support several more (I think there's also an African-American hair-braiding place on the eastern end of Penn, near Swissvale Avenue). However, some things that the middle-classes of other races would also utilize and enjoy would be great.

[squarian]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

Dusting off my crystal ball . . .

. . . I could actually see an Eastside-type development in Wilkinsburg at some point in the medium-term future (meaning not next year, but not 30 years either). I could also see new transit-oriented development around the Busway completely changing the market for the nearer parts of the commercial area.

I think you've got a point, though if we're talking boho-chic cafes, boutiques etc., my bet is on some of the shopfronts is Park Place/Peebles Square.

Have you noticed the recent listings for houses on Edgerton (242) and Abbot (329)? IF (yeah, big if) those houses sell for something like the asking price, and IF (ditto) that trend is sustained, there will be people in the neighborhood with disposable cash to spend in a cafe like, say, Legume.

If someone refurbs one of the shopfronts on Trenton (or the coffee house opening on Biddle), they'll be happy to take their bottle of BYOB chilled pinot grigio and stroll around the corner for a nice dinner. Calli's at Forbes & Braddock didn't make it for various reasons, but plenty of our neighbors were excited to have a nice eatery within walking distance, closer to home than S. Braddock & Hutchinson.

[gg]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

Some things I already like on the main drag?
-Rainbow Fashions
-Salvatore's Pizzeria (albeit the building doesn't fit with the historic nature of the rest of the business district)
-The African-American barber shop (don't remember it's name)
-The soul food restaurant (also don't remember it's name)

Wilkinsburg needs to assert itself as the region's emerging middle-class African-American mecca. Three of those four businesses I listed cater to a predominantly black demographic, and I feel as if the business district could support several more (I think there's also an African-American hair-braiding place on the eastern end of Penn, near Swissvale Avenue). However, some things that the middle-classes of other races would also utilize and enjoy would be great.

I agree. It is great to see. I need to try that soul food restaurant. Looks pretty popular and I always liked that food. Of course I like all food.

[squarian]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

To be quite honest with you

Yeah, I'm with you - I was just kidding around the "stylish" idea, but seriously the East End doesn't need another Mallnut St.

Wilkinsburg needs to assert itself as the region's emerging middle-class African-American mecca...some things that the middle-classes of other races would also utilize and enjoy would be great.

I think you've got a really good point here - it seems to me this could be a real strength for Wilksbg's business district if it were pursued sensibly, and the absence of an area in Pgh with real appeal to middle-class Af-Am people has been noted often enough. I'm not sure anyone needs to worry too much about appealing to other races - East Liberty's recent development began with places appealing to an affluent Af-Am clientele but fairly quickly attracted a mixed crowd. If a few chic retail/restaurant businesses opened in Wilkinsburg in a comfortable streetscape, the clientele would be mixed.