Downtown unused property (Pittsburgh, Liberty, Penn: affordable apartments, to rent, lofts)

[ajl777]

I was walking around on lunch and thinking about the dilapidated vacant buildings and unused 2nd/3rd/4th floors of buildings that have stores or bars on the ground floor. Are these just pretty much wasting away and making it harder to rent them out for the price asked for? Are the realtors just sitting on this property in case there's ever an increased demand to live downtown? I guess are these things even in any kinda of usable condition. I saw a few buildings on Wood and Liberty around 5th avenue that made me think of this.

[greg42]

There's actually a program to help building owners renovate those into apartments or such, but it's not that much $$, not nearly as attractive as, say, the one that gives the tax abatement for new condos.

I don't think most of those spaces are anywhere near usable condition.

[BrianTH]

The Vacant Upper Floors Loan Fund Program was just launched in 2009 (and in not the greatest of circumstances with the recession), so I think it remains to be seen how much impact it will have. Note this is building on a prior program which just provided consulting help, and this new loan program actually provides bridge financing as well up to fairly substantial amounts. Anyway, here is more about it:

PDP Accepting Loan Applications to Convert Vacant Upper Floors to Residential Use | Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership

http://www.downtownpittsburgh.com/_f...ines-final.pdf

Of course there have been several projects already along these lines, such as the PHLF's Market at Fifth:

Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation » Market at Fifth Continues
Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation » Market at Fifth – Historic, Hip, Chic, Green

The Buhl Building renovation:

Buhl Building rehab unveiled

Market Square Place:

MarketSquare Place ** Downtown Pittsburgh Lofts and Condos

941 Penn:

941 Penn Avenue. Inspired Urban Living in Downtown Pittsburgh Luxury Condominiums.

The bigger such projects include Piatt Place and The Carlyle . . .

http://www.piattplace.com/
http://www.carlylecondo.com/

. . . and both those developers have plans to do more projects. In fact the people who did Piatt Place and Market Square Place have specifically talked about something smaller along Wood Street.

[PreservationPioneer]

Who knows. With all those buildings downtown with vacant upper floors (granted, many of them are offices), you would think there would be some potential for affordable apartments. But I guess nobody wants to offer apartments downtown unless they rent for $1200+ a month.

[ajl777]

I always like how the Army and Navy store has like a storage on the second floor with a wide open window

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by alleghenyangel

Who knows. With all those buildings downtown with vacant upper floors (granted, many of them are offices), you would think there would be some potential for affordable apartments. But I guess nobody wants to offer apartments downtown unless they rent for $1200+ a month.

From reading around, I think a lot of developers have plans to do more middle-market stuff at least. Of course being within walking distance of a lot of higher-income jobs is going to keep market-based rents from getting too low, at least not unless a LOT more units are developed.