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"A Neighborhood on the Brink (of trendy)" NY Times

2K views 6 replies 6 participants last post by  bayviews 
#1 ·
...Pittsburgh's South Side Slopes.

The Flats get all of the attention, but the Slopes have the views.



August 13, 2006
National Perspectives
A Neighborhood on the Brink (of Trendy)
By BETH GREENFIELD
Pittsburgh

ASK new South Side Slopes residents to name their neighborhood’s biggest draw, and the answer you will undoubtedly receive is, “the view.”

It’s practically a mantra on the Slopes, an area that rises with steep and leafy grandeur from the edge of the South Side Flats, up to spectacular vistas of the city’s downtown skyline, the Monongahela River and its series of majestic bridges.

The view, though, is but one of many perks that come with living in the historic, idiosyncratic and currently en vogue Slopes — a lesson often learned upon arrival.

Sherrie Flick and Rick Schweikert, both writers, moved into their 1880 house two years ago to discover gifts from the sellers: pennies on the windowsills and a bottle of Jim Beam in the kitchen.

When Matt Schaefer renovated his 1900 hilltop home, bought from “an old hippie math teacher,” he unearthed evidence of a marijuana greenhouse in the basement and a 70’s stereo mysteriously entombed in the house’s drywall.

Brad Palmisiano, who renovated an 1898 town house, was delighted to find original pine floorboards beneath layers of orange shag carpeting, 1960’s newspapers and asphalt tile.

And Tom Tripoli, who is developing a former church into a collection of high-end condos, found endless treasures, from secret alcoves to the original basement safe.

Despite the current palpable change here, there is a sense of a humble past in this high-up neighborhood. The main thoroughfares are connected by an intricate system of steep stairways and goat-path roads, and cheek-by-jowl houses often stand only one room deep and three high to fit on small clifflike footprints. It’s a place that’s on the brink in every sense of the word.

“I think the Slopes is an exciting, vibrant neighborhood in transition, and one that has opportunity for all,” said Rick Belloli, executive director of the nonprofit South Side Local Development Company. The organization completed construction of eight town houses in the Slopes in 2003, and sold all for more than twice the average home in the neighborhood, which was $50,000 at the time.

One buyer was a disgruntled New York City resident, Maureen Rottschaefer. She moved back to Pittsburgh, where she had grown up, discovered the Slopes on the annual Historic South Side House Tour and bid on her house before it was fully built — much to the surprise of the contractors.

“That sort of thing doesn’t happen here,” recalled Ms. Rottschaefer, a 32-year-old law student. “But I was like: ‘I’m from New York! You don’t understand!’ ”

Those sales jump-started a surge of revitalization in the Slopes, which has continued, thanks its diverse and well-priced housing stock, proximity to the bustling Flats business district and tight-knit community feel. The combination has been seducing many a home buyer and developer. And the influx has brought more new construction — including UUBU 6 (spoken as “double u bee u six”), a soon-to-open chic restaurant, the first in the area— and steadily rising property values to an historic neighborhood that was built by and for immigrant steel-mill workers in the early 1900’s.

“If Pittsburgh’s market were on steroids like New York’s, this would’ve happened a long time ago,” said one developer, Ernie Sota, referring to the recent spark of interest here. “But Pittsburgh’s kind of like an eddy. Things move slowly here.”

Mr. Sota, 56, is a prolific local developer who is constructing a series of nine “green” town houses, called Windom Hill Place, into a lush hillside here. He was drawn to the Slopes by the views and villagelike feel, which, for him, conjure memories of visits to Prague and Budapest.

“It’s just kind of quirky, funky and real, more organic, built by Europeans and other immigrants,” he explained. “The only other American cities that I find as geographically interesting are maybe San Francisco and Asheville, N.C.”

Mr. Sota’s new three-story gems — energy-efficient cubes — offer 2,800 square feet of space with 10-foot-high windows that frame spectacular views. A model should be complete in September.

All are priced about $600,000. That’s the extreme high end in the Slopes, where the median for new construction is about $200,000, and existing stock averages $70,000, with a recent annual appreciation rate of about 5 percent.

But if Mr. Tripoli’s Angels Arms condominiums are any indication, there are people who are willing to spend freely to get in early on the Slopes’ revival. Mr. Tripoli, 58, is developing 23 residential units in the former St. Michael’s Roman Catholic Church, where prices are $250,000 to $600,000 for one- to three-bedroom units that range from 1,300 to 2,300 square feet. Seven are occupied — by two doctors, a dentist, a physical therapist, a philosophy professor and a former developer and by Mr. Tripoli himself — and two more are nearing completion.

“The interest in the Slopes has been growing for a while,” he said, “but I think this project alone has raised it.”

He said that since he bought the church in 2001 — for just $200,000 — the market has shifted in his favor. “An early unit I sold was $125,000, and it seemed like a lot of money,” he said.

The intriguing Angels Arms has received quite a bit of local press. Each unit is distinctive in size and shape and incorporates original Romanesque detailing into the interiors, including floors of mosaic and terrazzo, vesper rooms, molded columns, spiral staircases, dome ceilings — even the main altar and steeple column. Mr. Tripoli finishes each unit only up to a certain rough point. “I let people design their own finishes,” he said, “which can range from ultracontemporary to traditional.” The views, of course, are divine.

Mr. Palmisiano, a 27-year-old architectural engineer, lives just down the street from the condo project. He bought his three-story house in 2003 for $68,000 and estimates he has put $15,000 into fixing it up, removing a dropped ceiling in the kitchen, restoring the pine floors and adding the pièce de résistance: a roof deck where he holds Fourth of July fireworks-viewing parties.

“In the three years I’ve been here, there’s been a major transformation,” he noted. “There are usually two to three Dumpsters on my block, and never less than one. So people are starting to realize it’s a neat place to live.”

Most homes on the market are not new construction. Harry O’Brien, an agent with Carlson & McGinley Real Estate, said there are 101 houses on the market in the entire 964-acre South Side, with a third of those in the Slopes, which covers about half the area.

Since Mr. Palmisiano’s arrival, he has become a neighborhood advocate — working on local improvement projects, becoming friendly with many other residents and volunteering as board president for the South Side Slopes Neighborhood Association, which attracts about 500 people each year to its October StepTrek. The event allows people to explore the neighborhood, guide in hand, using the system of staircases that wend through the hills (and which Mr. Palmisiano uses daily to walk down the Slopes to his downtown office).

“People who are attracted to the Slopes are people who love this city,” he explained. “There’s a lot of pride here.”

That’s especially true for the many longtime older residents, who seem rejuvenated rather than resentful over the passing of the torch to young neighbors.

“Nothing I can do about it,” said Agnes Kuczma with an impish laugh. Ms. Kuczma, who is 83, has lived in the Slopes her entire life and recalls with clarity the many storefront businesses — including a bakery, barber shops, a tailor, a saloon and her own grandmother’s grocery store — that used to line her residential Pius Street. “I’m glad they’re keeping up the homes.”
 
#3 ·
Great article... the New York Times seems to be writing a lot of positive articles about Pittsburgh lately. The South Side Slopes is truly a one-of-a-kind neighborhood... the steep slopes, staircases, narrow winding streets, houses clinging to the hillside... give it incredible character. The South Side Flats have been booming for years now... and that boom has started to creep up the slope. Priceless views from neat old homes with easy access to one of urban America's greatest business districts on E. Carson. I'm glad to hear the Slopes getting an upscale restaurant of their own... would love to see a little more commercial development there.

Here's some of my photos of the South Side Slopes

South Side Slopes and Flats from Oakland


view of Slopes housing from Carson St. in the Flats


Flats near the river... Slopes on the... uh, slope


view from the aforementioned Windom Hill Place


the crazy urban quilt of the Slopes


sidewalks turn into staircases... even the streets turn into staircases sometimes








Flats (and Oakland in distance) from the Slopes


playground with a view


the city has special "short" firetrucks which are able to navigate this tight, steep neighborhood








from Carson St.


the aforementioned Angel Arms... a hillside church converted to condos


from Arlington
 
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