The Empire - new apts in Oakland (Liberty, Penn: bus, residential)

[PreservationPioneer]

Originally Posted by I_Like_Spam

An 18 story residential hirise in the strip isn't going to provide "affordable" rentals.


Just more 2 grand a month flats for the new urban elite that have been pouring into the city.

There may or may not be an "affordable rental crisis" (in my opinion, it's still relatively easy to find a $500-600 studio, which is affordable to me). However, building fancy new apartment buildings is not going to increase the amount of affordable rentals in the city, so I agree.

That said, I am not generally against the idea of more upscale housing, as long as the market can support it, and as long as no historic buildings are destroyed in its construction! If these new upscale apartment buildings come at the expense of subdivided houses, though, I expect that the supply of "affordable rentals" will certainly decrease.

[Geeo]

What I think has been happening in the last few years with all these new apartment buildings is that there was a pent-up demand for years and years. Like so many things, it goes back to the steel bust of the 1980s. For decades, there was very little new apartment construction in the city. I remember on this very forum people moving here were asking for suggestions on modern apartments and the response was always "you'll only find old apartment buildings and sub-divided crappy houses."

The last few years have seen new people (lots of them) moving here and looking for new construction, so the developers are building what people want. It seems to be working because most of the new places are leased or will be upon opening.

It's a good problem to have and these new places, by Pittsburgh standards, are pricier than normal, they fit into many of the new arrivals' budgets, especially if they're coming from the coasts.

[armourereric]

Are the strip buildings near 28th actually under construction now?

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by PreservationPioneer

There may or may not be an "affordable rental crisis" (in my opinion, it's still relatively easy to find a $500-600 studio, which is affordable to me). However, building fancy new apartment buildings is not going to increase the amount of affordable rentals in the city, so I agree.

That said, I am not generally against the idea of more upscale housing, as long as the market can support it, and as long as no historic buildings are destroyed in its construction! If these new upscale apartment buildings come at the expense of subdivided houses, though, I expect that the supply of "affordable rentals" will certainly decrease.

Generally, construction of new apartment units should cause the rents of older units to depreciate faster. More supply means demand must be falling somewhere after all. It probably won't cause demand to fall right around the new apartment buildings though, because a few hundred new residents make it more likely that there will be new commercial development in the area. Or, in this case, there actually will be retail on the first story.

Originally Posted by armourereric

Are the strip buildings near 28th actually under construction now?

If you mean the Three Crossings apartments, yes. Here's a photo of where they stand now (from someone else, on another forum).

[armourereric]

Maybe not the Crossings, but I read something about 3-18 story towers going up near 28th and Liberty

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by armourereric

Maybe not the Crossings, but I read something about 3-18 story towers going up near 28th and Liberty

The 16-story tower is set to go up on the 2600 block of Penn Avenue. If it gets through zoning of course.

[PIT2MAD]

Originally Posted by eschaton

Generally, construction of new apartment units should cause the rents of older units to depreciate faster. More supply means demand must be falling somewhere after all.

This. This part actually concerns me a bit because all of this new construction on the old brownfield and arena/stadium sites is likely to take away the demand from some of the neighborhoods at the early stages of their own resurrection. Those that were previously forced to overpay for antiquated housing simply due to a lack of supply can move into the new units, if there are more people waiting in the wings to overpay for the old housing, rents will continue on their current trajectory. Chances are though, the new construction will take some of the pressure off the overpriced older stock and the landlords/slumlords will be forced to lower their prices to remain competitive. I'm optimistic about Pittsburgh's future but not optimistic enough to believe demand will continue to outstrip supply to the extent that we can continue this growth on all of our blank slates AND in all of our transitioning neighborhoods.

It sure it a great time to be tuning into the developments in this city, the past ten years have been building to this point we are at now with a lot of major undertakings, it will be interesting to see where we are at and what our plans are for the future in another ten years.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by PIT2MAD

This. This part actually concerns me a bit because all of this new construction on the old brownfield and arena/stadium sites is likely to take away the demand from some of the neighborhoods at the early stages of their own resurrection. Those that were previously forced to overpay for antiquated housing simply due to a lack of supply can move into the new units, if there are more people waiting in the wings to overpay for the old housing, rents will continue on their current trajectory. Chances are though, the new construction will take some of the pressure off the overpriced older stock and the landlords/slumlords will be forced to lower their prices to remain competitive. I'm optimistic about Pittsburgh's future but not optimistic enough to believe demand will continue to outstrip supply to the extent that we can continue this growth on all of our blank slates AND in all of our transitioning neighborhoods.

It sure it a great time to be tuning into the developments in this city, the past ten years have been building to this point we are at now with a lot of major undertakings, it will be interesting to see where we are at and what our plans are for the future in another ten years.

As we've talked about before, much of the drop in demand is likely happening in the inner suburbs at either "garden apartment" complexes or for starter homes which catered to newlywed couples. Thus I don't think the city will bear the brunt of this.

To the extent it does, I think it will potentially be a good thing, not a bad one. Subdivided houses make for crappy rental buildings, but if properly restored make for good houses. In some neighborhoods, like Bloomfield, it seems like the vast majority houses of any size have been scooped up by landlords and broken into apartments. Weaker rental markets in all of these neighborhoods would mean the price differential between being owner-occupied and renter-occupied would potentially reverse, changing the economics for flippers. It would also increase the available housing stock for those looking to buy considerably.

[armourereric]

With the explosion of residential units in the strip, I still think some plan should have been made to extend Ft Duquense Blvd up the Allegheny. Unless there develops a trunk line of mass transit, maybe a bus BRT on Smallman, I can't see how Penn and Liberty will handle the traffic into town.

[I_Like_Spam]

Originally Posted by armourereric

With the explosion of residential units in the strip, I still think some plan should have been made to extend Ft Duquense Blvd up the Allegheny. Unless there develops a trunk line of mass transit, maybe a bus BRT on Smallman, I can't see how Penn and Liberty will handle the traffic into town.

You have Penn, Liberty and Smallman right now, I don't think the additional residences will cause that much of a problem on those streets.


People made it through the strip during their industrial past, when hundreds of workers were leaving their jobs at the same tim.


Further, in our current era, the lower strip is a big parking location for workers in town, and they all come and leave at the same time.


I just don't see the new residences as creating any kind of great problem.