West End
Median Home Price: $32,000
Population: 465
This neighborhood tucked at the bottom of two big hills has always had a sleepy, village feel. Now it's waking up, as Main Street merchants unite behind a West End Village branding effort and $1.2 million streetscape courtesy of Main Street Pittsburgh, West Pittsburgh Partnership and local property owners. Beyond new landscaping and lighting, look for a new white-linen restaurant, Cornerstone Bistro & Catering, to complement the strip's strengths--pastries from newcomers Vanilla Pastry Studio and Cafe Laurie and high-end design and furnishings from Artifacts, James Gallery and Buon Sapore. Locals still love the offerings at Grill 424 (formerly Temperanceville Tavern), its grub now upgraded to gastro-pub. Buyers are snapping up properties in what one calls "hands down, the most convenient neighborhood in town."
Doughboy Square (lower Lawrenceville)
Median Home Price: $45,000
Population: 2,585
A dozen new shops also have landed in Larryville. Lawrenceville's famous World War I memorial features a period soldier, who views the intersection of Butler and Penn from on high, yet might want a few new duds himself.
From the Eclectic Art and Framing Gallery at 34th and Butler streets to Piccolo Forno and Coca Cafe at 38th and Butler, this stretch of local merchants is bringing the neighborhood's patented funk to retail. Antiques and design centers speak to the shelter shoppers; for the fashionistas, there's this year's shoes at Pavement, hip separates at Divine and handmade everything at Sugar. One sign that the Doughboy is rising: Sugar's recent accolade in Lucky, the glossy national bible of inveterate shoppers.
East Allegheny
Median Home Price: $33,000
Population: 886
Population's down, but that's one sign of success in this neighborhood bordering East Ohio Street. The community group's fight to reclaim boarding houses as single-family homes has stabilized a city Historic District, and it's created more than 80 new homes in the past two decades. Conversions of Latimer School to apartments and St. Mary's Church to Pittsburgh's Grand Hall at The Priory have reused famous old structures. "We tackled some big white elephants," recalls Barbara Burns, a former city councilwoman who now owns Sweet Town Café and General Store on East Ohio (a long-sought neighborhood gift store and contract postal unit). "And last year, we had our first house tour. [This year's tour is Sun., Sept. 17]. It's all about pride here."
Observatory Hill
Median Home Price: $67,000
Population: 4,600
Talk about hidden charm: This enclave that neighbors Riverview Park gets its protective shade from some of the city's biggest trees and its shine from monuments like beautiful old dowager homes, Allegheny Observatory and the Byzantine Catholic Seminary of S.S. Cyril and Methodius.
Scott Pipitone lives in an 1897 home adjoining Riverview Park, with its bike lanes, pool and groves. "It's so green, I could be in--God forbid--Wexford," he jokes. "There's a wide variety of housing stock. Home values are good for what they cost. And it's one of the safest" city districts.
Back in the days when Perrysville Avenue carried trolleys to the park, a stretch of its mansions was dubbed "Judges Row." Young families are restoring these beauties, and a strong community association has rehabbed a handful of other elderly homes. The seminary opens its doors to community meetings. And for those who need a quick getaway, I-279 is just blocks away.
Downtown
Median Home Price: $124,350
Population: 2,721
With about 1,000--count 'em--new housing units opening this year, from 151 First Side to the chic Encore on Seventh, downtown is becoming a place to live as well as work. Look for further momentum when the Cultural Trust announces the winner of its international design competition for its new development bounded by Fort Duquesne Boulevard, Penn Avenue, Seventh and Ninth streets. The 6-acre housing development will be within walking distance of everything great about downtown, from the rivers, to the stadiums, to music, performance and art. And, of course, the office.
Beechview
Median Home Price: $59,900
Population: 8,772
Beechview's getting buzz for becoming the city's first Latino neighborhood. This destination on the South Hills trolley line has attracted new businesses, including MexiCasa on West Liberty Avenue (another restaurant, Maya, may soon re-open on Broadway). Housing bargains are luring young couples who thought they'd never be able to afford to buy a house.
"We've got cherry trees and a corner lot and a house we couldn't have afforded in Friendship or Regent Square," says Natalie Blais, a Denver transplant. "There are kids of every race and background at the bus stop. That's going to increase, because it's affordable to live here. It feels undiscovered."
South Side Slopes
Median Home Price: $50,000
Population: 5,007
Forget fashionable streets. Try the Steps. Those fleeing rising South Side home prices are climbing high above the Flats to this neighborhood of killer-view row houses reached not by city streets, but by city steps. Here, 68 streets are actually staircases: no cars, no curbs, just steps. The steps are the local mass transit down to Carson Street, where Slopers can catch a Station Square trolley
to downtown.
Despite hairpin turns and streets that require miniature fire trucks, the community is thriving. South Side Local Development Co. has built eight new homes near Shelly Street, and South Side Neighborhood Association has pitched in--literally--with clean-up efforts and gardens while landing city help for lighting and replacing footbridges at 10th and 15th streets. A $47,600 state grant is helping to update home facades, add trees, improve roads and market the area. Recent home sales have topped $250,000. A chic new 110-seat restaurant, Uubu 6, has just opened on Pius Street--taking a small bite from Mount Washington eateries' fabulous vistas. -- Christine O'Toole
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