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Release Date: Wednesday, January 30th 2008
Tribune-Review: Budget living options on rise Downtown
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By Jeremy Boren
Sunday, January 27, 2008 The Craigslist ad might go something like this: bird''s-eye view of Market Square''s raucous St. Patrick''s Day bash; coffee shop downstairs; chance to be part of small but growing Downtown residential scene.
Bill Jacobowitz, 80, of Oakland is counting on two 1,000-square-foot lofts he''s putting in above the Starbucks in Market Square to be an easy sell to young professionals who "want to roll out of bed and walk to work" and enjoy the nearby Cultural District.
"There are apartments all around town, but I think this is going to develop into a real Downtown residential area," said Jacobowitz, who since 1980 has owned the two-story building where he once ran a hardware store. "We thought we had really good space and a terrific location."
Downtown abodes largely have been the domain of luxury condo developers and wealthy residents, but Jacobowitz is eager to join a small vanguard of landlords renovating empty pockets of building space into nonluxury lofts, making the new wave of Downtown living affordable to young professionals. |
The Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership''s "Vacant Upper Floors Initiative" paid architect Rob Pfaffman to design Jacobowitz''s two lofts, which could rent for about $1,200 a month. Some for-sale apartments inspired by the Upper Floors Initiative aim to fill the gap below the $330,000 minimum price tag on the luxury pads of Piatt Place or the $250,000 minimum of 151 First Side.
"The whole plan from the get-go was our belief in the marketability of Downtown residences," said Rob Chiarelli, who is managing Arriba Construction''s renovations to put 12 apartments in the Keystone Picture Frame Building on Liberty Avenue.
"We didn''t think they made sense at $350,000 or $300,000, so ours will priced starting at about $200,000," said Chiarelli, whose wife, Karina Chavez, owns Arriba and the building.
Patty Burk, the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership''s vice president of housing and economic development, said the group is targeting 265 Downtown buildings that have empty, wasted space that could to be renovated into residential space. The group performed a "windshield survey" of Downtown buildings between two and eight stories tall with vacant space that could be turned into living space.
According to a 2006 study the partnership commissioned, renovating those Golden Triangle buildings could add 750 to 1,000 residential units. The PDP estimates there are about 5,724 Downtown housing units.
The PDP''s assistance program has a $1.2 million annual budget and has caught on slowly since 2006. Twelve building owners, including Jacobowitz and Chirelli, have either taken free architectural work worth $7,000 to $12,000 or simply have been inspired by the partnership''s vision to add Downtown residents.
According to 2000 U.S. Census data, 5,222 people lived Downtown.
"These places can be put in cheaper than a high rise," Burk said.
"Downtowns across the country are focusing on residential because that''s what brings vibrancy back," she said. "We''ve had a great office market and visitor business, but the residential is what we''re focusing on because residential is lagging behind."
Vacant office space Downtown has fallen steadily to 16.6 percent by the end of 2007, according to commercial real estate firm Grubb & Ellis. The vacancy rate was 19.2 at the end of 2006.
A 2005 Brookings Institution report on the residential growth of 45 U.S. downtowns put Pittsburgh''s in a "slow-growing" category behind "established" downtowns in cities such as Philadelphia and Chicago and quickly "emerging" ones in Denver, Cleveland and Milwaukee.
Small investments in downtown living give Pittsburgh a chance to join the ranks of the nation''s well-established city centers, said Pfaffman, the architect assisting Jacobowitz.
Primanti Bros. owner Jim Patrinos pioneered apartment living in Market Square by putting two lofts above his Market Square restaurant -- next door to the Starbucks. High demand has kept the lofts rented since opening, Pfaffman said.
"The idea of living on Market Square above the coffee shop sounds appealing to me," Pfaffman said. "It was an interesting process. As an elderly couple, they don''t necessarily understand how young people think about housing. The lifestyles are a bit different. But once they had help and figured it out, they were really excited about it."
