Best Urban and Safe Areas in Pittsburgh? (Philadelphia, Liberty: real estate, apartments)

[underwatersimba]

My fiance and I are moving to Pittsburgh at the beginning of December and will be renting. We currently live in the heart of Center City Philadelphia, and walk almost everywhere. We would be looking for a safe area that is close to many restaurants, shops, bars, etc - basically, we want to try to replicate that "big city" type of environment vs. a more suburban atmosphere. However, we would also be looking to take advantage of the lower cost of living in Pittsburgh and are looking for a 2 - 3 bedroom with upgraded amenities. I am hoping to pay approximately $1500 / month or less. Is this a realistic goal?
I have heard that Southside Works might fit the bill, but many of the apartments I have seen on Craigs List are approximately 5 blocks off Southside Flats, and I am not sure what types of neighborhoods surround the more "urban center" type areas.
Any insights and recommendations would be greatly appreciated! I am accepting the job today and the move is going to be rather quick, so we are going at this somewhat blind and could use the help!

Thanks again!

[ferraris]

Shady Side, Squirrel Hill, Bloomfield, and South Side all have good walkable districts with many restaurants stores and shops. I would leave out Regent Square, since it definitely does not have a "big city" feeling, and Oakland because it is far too collegey.

1500 a month could buy you a house in most of these areas, let alone rent one. My rent is just 475 and I live one block from Liberty Ave. in Bloomfield.

You could always go for an apartment or condo in actual downtown, too. Just be warned that at night it slows down a little. But, you'd be close to station square and sports, and there'd be a good supply of shows to go see in the cultural district.

What are the most important aspects of the walking distance business district to you? Bars, restaurants, parks, grocery stores, retail, etc?

[BrianTH]

So Downtown is a viable option if you would like a high-rise environment that is very conveniently located and has decent restaurants and cultural options, particularly if you are actually working Downtown. If you want to be around a lot of bars/nightlife and are OK with a more low-rise urban area, the South Side Flats and Shadyside are good choices. Both are convenient to Downtown and Oakland (our other major employment center in the City). Your budget should be adequate for a nice two-bedroom in any of these areas.

There are other areas I could recommend, particularly if you were on a stricter budget, but I tend to think it makes sense to start with one of the most convenient and obvious choices when you are new to town, at least if you can afford it, on the theory you can branch out later once you get to know the city better.

[underwatersimba]

Originally Posted by ferrarisnowday

Shady Side, Squirrel Hill, Bloomfield, and South Side all have good walkable districts with many restaurants stores and shops. I would leave out Regent Square, since it definitely does not have a "big city" feeling, and Oakland because it is far too collegey.

1500 a month could buy you a house in most of these areas, let alone rent one. My rent is just 475 and I live one block from Liberty Ave. in Bloomfield.

What are the most important aspects of the walking distance business district to you? Bars, restaurants, parks, grocery stores, retail, etc?

Thanks so much for the response. We are already pretty heavily invested in real estate, and given the amount of time we anticipate living in Pittsburgh (it is a 2 - 3 year play for us), we feel more comfortable renting than owning at this point.

As far as the most important components, I would really like to be able to walk to restaurants, grocery stores, bars, and retail (yes, I realize I just said them all!) Out of the many areas you mentioned, is there one in particular that might have the most of these types of establsihments within a walkable distance? We are both professionals, in our early thirties and established in our careers -- we don't do the bar thing every weekend, but we do go out to eat way more than we should and we like variety.

Thanks!

[BrianTH]

If you aren't doing bars every weekend and want to walk to a grocery store as well as a nice variety of restaurants, I'm thinking Shadyside and Squirrel Hill are your best bets (note Squirrel Hill is pretty big by Pittsburgh standards, and you will want to be near the commercial districts along Forbes and Murray). Downtown notably lacks a walkable grocery store, and the South Side is pretty bar-oriented and a little less of a foodie neighborhood.

By the way, I might note Shadyside and Squirrel Hill have long been popular with younger professionals looking for this sort of lifestyle, and non-natives are relatively common in that area (thanks in part to the universities and hospitals in that section of the city). So you would fit right in.

[Geeo]

Shadyside has a nice feel to it, especially with what you are looking for. Lots of rentals in either converted mansions or low-rise apartment buildings, three walkable business districts (Walnut Street has restaurants and stores like Coach, Banana Republic, Pottery Barn, J. Crew, etc), Whole Foods, Trader Joes, Giant Eagle Market District, lots of nice ethnic, casual and higher-end restaurants, quiet lounges for happy hour, dry cleaners, liquor store, busway transit, and a nice cosmopolitan feel. You can find a nice two-bedroom in your price range.

[Doppelganger69]

I used to live in Squirrel Hill (and still miss it) and I think it would offer what you are looking for. I only used my car twice a week, and walked to the grocery stores, restaurants, shopping, friends, and so on. Shadyside is also good, though to me it feels a little more artificially upscale than Squirrel Hill, which feels more like a real, old-fashioned neighborhood.

Walnut Capital offers a lot of newly-renovated properties in Squirrel Hill. We had a three-bedroom townhouse that we loved, though it was a tad above your limit, and that was a few years back.

[ferraris]

What is the third walkable buisness district in Shadyside? Ellsworth, Walnut, and...?

To answer the OP:

If you aren't interested in drinking at least weekly then don't even bother with the South Side, in my opinion. South Side Works would be the main non drinking attraction and it has a $3 dollar maximum price parking garage at night, just make the short drive if something interests you there.

Shadyside has the potential to begin reaching your price limit, but is definitely still possible. I would say this is the number 1 walkable district in the city when it comes to retail, and it also has a good number of restaurants with bars. I'd characterize Shadyside restaurants as "trendy." I don't think there's a great deal of places that are purely bars, though. Which is a good thing if you don't like being around smoke. Though maybe they are hiding on the third walkable district, lol.

Bloomfield is quite close to Shadyside, it's about the limit of how far I would consider walking distance, but I'm a little more apt to walk than others. A half hour or 45 minute walk doesn't phase me. I just checked google transit for walking, it's 0.9 miles from Walnut and Negley in Shadyside to Milvale and Liberty in Bloomfield, roughly the starting areas of those two business districts. So it's possible to find someplace where both Bloomfield and Shady Side's districts could be considered walking distance. Anyway Bloomfield has a really strange mix of fine dining, greasy american restaurants/bars, italian restaurants and grocery stores, dollar stores (seriously, 3 of them, crazy), typical dive bars and at least one with live music. The main advantage is that Bloomfield will be a far better value housing wise than Shady Side, Squirrel Hill, or Downtown.

Squirrel Hill, as stated above, is quite large so you'll have to pay attention to how close to the Forbes/Murray business corridor you are. If by any chance you are Jewish this would be the place to look. I would say Squirrel Hill has the widest variety of restaurants, but is lacking in the upscale/trendiness department. It probably has fewer retail stores than Shadyside, but more that interest me. Video Games, Record Stores, Book stores (well not anymore I guess), Retro Clothing shops. I'd have to say it has the most walkable grocery store too (this depends highly on where in the nieghborhood you live).

And you didn't mention everything, you left out parks ;-)

[Geeo]

The third biz district in Shadyside, in addition to Walnut Street and Ellsworth Avenue, is South Highland Avenue. A couple restaurants, fitness center, antique and furniture stores, and almost adjacent to the Eastside complex where Borders, Walgreens and Whole Foods is located.

[underwatersimba]

All -
Thank you so very much. Your comments and insights have been invaluable. Based on the comments on this site, as well as google street maps (gotta love it!), we will most likely be looking in Shady Side. At least from the cursory search I did on Craig's List, it appears as if there are a good number of apartments / townhomes within our price range that will fit our needs.

Thanks again!