Downtown Pittsburgh is BOOMING! (Liberty, Smithfield: 2015, buy, tenant)

[gg]

Originally Posted by eschaton

Literally right across the street from these buildings, a similar-scale historic building was converted into a three-unit set of townhouses. Two sold for $1.7 million, and one sold for $2 million.

Wow! Those are awesome, but only for the super rich. How many $2 million dollar buyers are there? Imagine the taxes on those. Just did taxes on 1.6 million and it came out to be around $28K a year give or take. That was with homestead. At $2million it is about $35K with homestead. Damn.

Do we really need more of those, or is a high-rise better for our city? I don't think there are a lot of people able to afford that, but maybe.

Thanks for bringing those up. Love the garage space and just the idea of those, but you have to really have a lot of income to consider such a place.

[gg]

Originally Posted by zalewskimm

The Troiani family has been known to be arrogant. Someone else's words, not mine. But personal experience leads me to believe this is true. They've left this arguably historic structure go to hell without penalty for lack of upkeep. Now they want to demo. Not surprised.

Well I don't know if arrogance has anything to do with business. They have a pretty big footprint there and it isn't just luck they have those contiguous properties. They planned on doing something big there from the start. I think it is best to look at the benefits to the city of Pittsburgh and its residents. Just looking at those buildings regardless of condition, I feel the city would be better served if they were taken down and a higher structure is built. That would be more revenue for the city and people of a little more modest income could afford them if made residential. Converting them into million dollar plus units is okay, but something taller might be better. As far as the owners personality, I don't think that has any real meaning. Any owner of buildings like those are going to want highest and best use.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by gg

Well I don't know if arrogance has anything to do with business. They have a pretty big footprint there and it isn't just luck they have those contiguous properties. They planned on doing something big there from the start. I think it is best to look at the benefits to the city of Pittsburgh and its residents. Just looking at those buildings regardless of condition, I feel the city would be better served if they were taken down and a higher structure is built. That would be more revenue for the city and people of a little more modest income could afford them if made residential. Converting them into million dollar plus units is okay, but something taller might be better. As far as the owners personality, I don't think that has any real meaning. Any owner of buildings like those are going to want highest and best use.

Keep in mind that Burns-Scallo has tried to develop an empty parking lot only two blocks away for years, and found no takers for a tower. There's just too many buildings left for rehab in downtown to warrant much new construction without an anchor commercial tenant, and no one aside from PNC is really interested in building any new office buildings downtown.

[_Buster]

Firstside is not a great neighborhood for a highrise. If someone wants to build a highrise downtown, they should be looking here and nowhere else, IMO...

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.4374.../data=!3m1!1e3

[gg]

Originally Posted by eschaton

Keep in mind that Burns-Scallo has tried to develop an empty parking lot only two blocks away for years, and found no takers for a tower. There's just too many buildings left for rehab in downtown to warrant much new construction without an anchor commercial tenant, and no one aside from PNC is really interested in building any new office buildings downtown.

Hmm going point. Years of marketing and no takers. Wonder what they are thinking tearing them down? They probably have some plan. City could use more residential. I think downtown is really going to be the best place to be at some point. Pretty exciting to watch it unfold. Wish there was more discussion like this on this forum as it is good information and interesting to watch the developments. I was kicked off the other building forum thingy. Geez, I think I posted about nothing over there, but maybe some ganged up and got me thrown off. Pretty boring over there to be honest.

[jea6321]

Originally Posted by gg

Wow! Those are awesome, but only for the super rich. How many $2 million dollar buyers are there? Imagine the taxes on those. Just did taxes on 1.6 million and it came out to be around $28K a year give or take. That was with homestead. At $2million it is about $35K with homestead. Damn.

total tax on 2M is more like 45k in the city. there isn't very many properties assessed in that range.

this one is pretty close. https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sal...05_rect/17_zm/ It was assessed over 2M but was lowered a couple years ago

[gg]

Originally Posted by jea6321

total tax on 2M is more like 45k in the city. there isn't very many properties assessed in that range.

this one is pretty close. https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sal...05_rect/17_zm/ It was assessed over 2M but was lowered a couple years ago

I used the city of Pittsburgh tax calculator and just plugged in the numbers. I actually looked up the property that eschaton mentioned and it is assessed at $1.6 million!! Bet it is nice inside that place!

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by gg

I used the city of Pittsburgh tax calculator and just plugged in the numbers. I actually looked up the property that eschaton mentioned and it is assessed at $1.6 million!! Bet it is nice inside that place!

I think there was a feature on one of the units on NextPittsburgh last year. Very modern and open concept, which is to be expected given the price tag and how few original features remained (it was an old warehouse building, not a residence).

[selltheburgh]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

I'd live Downtown in a heartbeat if I could afford it.

As it stands now my partner and I pay $900/month (plus all utilities) to rent a dumpy 1-BR unit in Polish Hill. Surprisingly a supposed "glut" of new luxury apartments is NOT putting downward pressure on rents on older units in the East End, as our rent continues to rise. I believe eschaton said in the past that rents on older units should decrease, but I have yet to see that occurring, which leads me to believe there's still a rental shortage in the city. I hope thousands of new rental units are built in/around Downtown in the coming years.

I had a tenant in East Liberty paying $1100 for a 2 bedroom. She moved downtown into a 1 bedroom for $1,000 per mo. Much smaller, but all new.

You have to actively pursue something to get it. Whether it is buying a home or renting a new apartment.

[PGH423]

Originally Posted by gg

Wow! Those are awesome, but only for the super rich. How many $2 million dollar buyers are there? Imagine the taxes on those. Just did taxes on 1.6 million and it came out to be around $28K a year give or take. That was with homestead. At $2million it is about $35K with homestead. Damn.

Do we really need more of those, or is a high-rise better for our city? I don't think there are a lot of people able to afford that, but maybe.

Thanks for bringing those up. Love the garage space and just the idea of those, but you have to really have a lot of income to consider such a place.

Hmmm. That doesn’t sound like much in taxes for a multi-million dollar home. Where I grew up, taxes on a $600K house are over $20K a year.