South Oakland?

[Sean Miller Fan]

For the area between Bouquet Gardens and Magee/Blvd of the Allies, what are the long-term plans for that area?

South Oakland is kind of a weird neighborhood because for one, the homes are very, very old and not well kept up. I believe most are Depression era and are around the 100 year old mark. The strange thing about it is if you were from outside the area and took a tour of SO, you might think its a low-income area because of its appearance. However, as Pitt grew up around SO, real estate companies started buying these homes. And being that the renters would be college students there would be very little incentive to keep the properties maintained since college students are looking for cheap rent and are very transient.

So what we have is a community of college students (and some older people who have lived there manh years) living in "ugly housing" which isnt well maintained.

What is South Oakland going to be like 20 years from now or 50 years from now? These are very old homes and real estate companies will continue to put the least amount of investment in them to pass code.

I am not sure exactly how Bouquet Gardens happened but Pitt over the years, Pitt bought almost that whole block and demolished those old houses. It is my opinion that Pitt should be buying every single SO home as it goes on sale to, in 25-50 years, demolish that neighborhood and build more Bouquet Gardens-esque housing, education buildings, and maybe even.....nevermind. This may already be the plan. My apartment on Oakland Ave (not the Bouquet side) was Pitt-owned and you'd never know it as there was no Pitt signage. Perhaps they are already trying to buy up this land, small home by small home.

 

[Swervin27]

For the area between Bouquet Gardens and Magee/Blvd of the Allies, what are the long-term plans for that area?

South Oakland is kind of a weird neighborhood because for one, the homes are very, very old and not well kept up. I believe most are Depression era and are around the 100 year old mark. The strange thing about it is if you were from outside the area and took a tour of SO, you might think its a low-income area because of its appearance. However, as Pitt grew up around SO, real estate companies started buying these homes. And being that the renters would be college students there would be very little incentive to keep the properties maintained since college students are looking for cheap rent and are very transient.

So what we have is a community of college students (and some older people who have lived there manh years) living in "ugly housing" which isnt well maintained.

What is South Oakland going to be like 20 years from now or 50 years from now? These are very old homes and real estate companies will continue to put the least amount of investment in them to pass code.

I am not sure exactly how Bouquet Gardens happened but Pitt over the years, Pitt bought almost that whole block and demolished those old houses. It is my opinion that Pitt should be buying every single SO home as it goes on sale to, in 25-50 years, demolish that neighborhood and build more Bouquet Gardens-esque housing, education buildings, and maybe even.....nevermind. This may already be the plan. My apartment on Oakland Ave (not the Bouquet side) was Pitt-owned and you'd never know it as there was no Pitt signage. Perhaps they are already trying to buy up this land, small home by small home.

I'd like to see that too but not to get all "tin foil hat" conspiracy crazy, I'd have to imagine the land fight in Oakland is more intense than we think.. the city, assuming all of this, have zero info, probably doesn't hold the idea of pitt taking more and more land in Oakland as optimistic as you or I..

id be curious if another major university has this much difficult with real estate? Maybe GWU in DC?

 

[KennyTheKangaroo]

A.) 100 year old homes built in the depression era?

B.) A large part of the area you described is Oakland Square, which is designated as a historic district by the city of pittsburgh. I don't know the rules, and I'm too lazy to look them up, but it seems highly unlikely that pitt could or would be able to blast those homes to smithereens without the city's historic review commission's approval.

 

[pitt-girl]

I'd like to see that too but not to get all "tin foil hat" conspiracy crazy, I'd have to imagine the land fight in Oakland is more intense than we think.. the city, assuming all of this, have zero info, probably doesn't hold the idea of pitt taking more and more land in Oakland as optimistic as you or I..

id be curious if another major university has this much difficult with real estate? Maybe GWU in DC?

I have to agree with this more than anything. Inexplicably, the City has never been and will never be a friend of Pitt. I see their hands and influence in this.

 

[ThePanthers]

I still think Pitt should blow up every building in Oakland, including hospitals and build a.......nevermind

 

[thebadby2]

For the area between Bouquet Gardens and Magee/Blvd of the Allies, what are the long-term plans for that area?

South Oakland is kind of a weird neighborhood because for one, the homes are very, very old and not well kept up. I believe most are Depression era and are around the 100 year old mark. The strange thing about it is if you were from outside the area and took a tour of SO, you might think its a low-income area because of its appearance. However, as Pitt grew up around SO, real estate companies started buying these homes. And being that the renters would be college students there would be very little incentive to keep the properties maintained since college students are looking for cheap rent and are very transient.

So what we have is a community of college students (and some older people who have lived there manh years) living in "ugly housing" which isnt well maintained.

What is South Oakland going to be like 20 years from now or 50 years from now? These are very old homes and real estate companies will continue to put the least amount of investment in them to pass code.

I am not sure exactly how Bouquet Gardens happened but Pitt over the years, Pitt bought almost that whole block and demolished those old houses. It is my opinion that Pitt should be buying every single SO home as it goes on sale to, in 25-50 years, demolish that neighborhood and build more Bouquet Gardens-esque housing, education buildings, and maybe even.....nevermind. This may already be the plan. My apartment on Oakland Ave (not the Bouquet side) was Pitt-owned and you'd never know it as there was no Pitt signage. Perhaps they are already trying to buy up this land, small home by small home.

For Life?

 

[BuffetParrothead]

I have to agree with this more than anything. Inexplicably, the City has never been and will never be a friend of Pitt. I see their hands and influence in this.

I hear this a lot and don't get it!
If PITT closed up ( just for discussion purposes) or moved its campus out of Pittsburgh the cities economy would crater. Who knows it might be on its way to being another Detriot.
The U provides lots of discretionary dollars into the local economy.
The city and the U should be best buddies???

 

[Swervin27]

I still think Pitt should blow up every building in Oakland, including hospitals and build a.......nevermind

id like the opposite, I want to see if we can fit any more hospitals into the smallest, most densily populated 1/2 mile area in the city of Pittsburgh.. why stop now, im sure we can fit one more in there somewhere..

 

[PittMan 72]

I have to agree with this more than anything. Inexplicably, the City has never been and will never be a friend of Pitt. I see their hands and influence in this.

Agree. People like many on here that are alums or otherwise have an affection for Pitt likely feel like that, too.

But like most urban, metro areas Pittsburgh is a melting pot. Lots and lots of people with zero connection to Pitt: people who never went to college or went to other colleges. Some of them that even despise Pitt as a competitor and/or rival.

So there isn't necessarily the same political pressure (see the current Mayor of Pgh and some other former/current prominent local politicians who have been very adversarial towards Pitt as examples) or unified common sentiments that are seen in college towns. In those places, the locals are almost unanimously dependent on the school for their livelihood and those that return to town for sporting events and the like are virtually all fans, friends or alumni of the local school. Those are things that Pitt has to share in Pittsburgh.

Very unfortunate that in many cases the locals in Pittsburgh can't seem to see the forest for the trees when it comes to Pitt. But really don't expect to see much change in this regard. So Pitt has to fight its own battles locally. Makes things more difficult, expensive and time consuming and can impede progress and growth.

 

[paulbl99]

South Oakland is a DUMP

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

For the area between Bouquet Gardens and Magee/Blvd of the Allies, what are the long-term plans for that area?

South Oakland is kind of a weird neighborhood because for one, the homes are very, very old and not well kept up. I believe most are Depression era and are around the 100 year old mark. The strange thing about it is if you were from outside the area and took a tour of SO, you might think its a low-income area because of its appearance. However, as Pitt grew up around SO, real estate companies started buying these homes. And being that the renters would be college students there would be very little incentive to keep the properties maintained since college students are looking for cheap rent and are very transient.

So what we have is a community of college students (and some older people who have lived there manh years) living in "ugly housing" which isnt well maintained.

What is South Oakland going to be like 20 years from now or 50 years from now? These are very old homes and real estate companies will continue to put the least amount of investment in them to pass code.

I am not sure exactly how Bouquet Gardens happened but Pitt over the years, Pitt bought almost that whole block and demolished those old houses. It is my opinion that Pitt should be buying every single SO home as it goes on sale to, in 25-50 years, demolish that neighborhood and build more Bouquet Gardens-esque housing, education buildings, and maybe even.....nevermind. This may already be the plan. My apartment on Oakland Ave (not the Bouquet side) was Pitt-owned and you'd never know it as there was no Pitt signage. Perhaps they are already trying to buy up this land, small home by small home.

I'd like to see that too but not to get all "tin foil hat" conspiracy crazy, I'd have to imagine the land fight in Oakland is more intense than we think.. the city, assuming all of this, have zero info, probably doesn't hold the idea of pitt taking more and more land in Oakland as optimistic as you or I..

id be curious if another major university has this much difficult with real estate? Maybe GWU in DC?

I'm not sure how it works because Pitt does own apartments in Oakland. They were able to buy some.....including the ones ripped down to build Bouquet Gardens. Does the city have to approve every sale? If I have a house on Meyran Avenue and I want to sell it to Pitt because they are the highest bidder, I am not allowed? I mean I guess due to zoning maybe I cant but why was Pitt able to buy up almost all of Oakland Ave?

 

[Swervin27]

South Oakland is a DUMP

I was down there on Saturday, took little ones to high school hoops game.. it's getting nicer.. cool little restaurant/bar on corner next to Fuel N Fuddle was decent, actually walked hand in hand with my 5 and 8 year old on a Saturday night and wasn't in fear of their safety.. it's not bad at all.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

South Oakland is a DUMP

I was down there on Saturday, took little ones to high school hoops game.. it's getting nicer.. cool little restaurant/bar on corner next to Fuel N Fuddle was decent, actually walked hand in hand with my 5 and 8 year old on a Saturday night and wasn't in fear of their safety.. it's not bad at all.

Were you ever afraid for your safety? I wasn't but maybe that's being a naive college kid. Walked those streets plenty of times by myself at 2 or 3 AM and never felt the least bit afraid.

 

[Swervin27]

Were you ever afraid for your safety? I wasn't but maybe that's being a naive college kid. Walked those streets plenty of times by myself at 2 or 3 AM and never felt the least bit afraid.

lol, no. I was down there a million times. just saying, with my little ones on a Saturday night, on a college campus, that's all. I was being a tad facetious

 

[recruitsreadtheseboards]

I have to agree with this more than anything. Inexplicably, the City has never been and will never be a friend of Pitt. I see their hands and influence in this.

Tax revenue right? You have a group of people running Pittsburgh forever who have never met a tax dollar that they didn't want 10 more of.

 

[NTOP]

Were you ever afraid for your safety? I wasn't but maybe that's being a naive college kid. Walked those streets plenty of times by myself at 2 or 3 AM and never felt the least bit afraid.

Maybe folks realized you're a bit....different???

 

[paulbl99]

Were you ever afraid for your safety? I wasn't but maybe that's being a naive college kid. Walked those streets plenty of times by myself at 2 or 3 AM and never felt the least bit afraid.

Dude where are you going? Why

I said it was a DUMP because it is....

 

[JoseLind13]

The apartments can be cash cows for owners.... making offers, even above the ridiculously inflated market values, may not be enough motivation to sell. They may be ugly, run down, and inefficient, but 100-year old Pittsburgh homes were built with structural strength to last a lot longer than any of us.

Throw a high-end 40-year roof on those houses, with an okay furnace, and then their maintenance costs are a few replacement used appliances and lots of commercial grade white paint paid for by security deposit withholds. Make the students pay all utilities so you don't need to dump money into good windows and insulation.

Adding new large capacity housing developments on limited land, like Bouquet, Panther, and Nordenberg Halls to somewhat drive down the demand for the SO apartments is probably the only route for Pitt anytime soon.

 

[pittfanfromNC]

Graduated last year. What I can say is that owners have all the leverage and because we are students like you said they have no reason to fix their properties. I however never felt unsafe in south O as most of the people that live there are college students, and Pitt Police honestly do a great job of patrolling the area. But then again I lived right next to the fire station on Mckee.

 

[HailToPitt725]

South Oakland? You mean the site of the futute on-campus stadium?

/thread

 

[Jpripper88]

I'm not sure how it works because Pitt does own apartments in Oakland. They were able to buy some.....including the ones ripped down to build Bouquet Gardens. Does the city have to approve every sale? If I have a house on Meyran Avenue and I want to sell it to Pitt because they are the highest bidder, I am not allowed? I mean I guess due to zoning maybe I cant but why was Pitt able to buy up almost all of Oakland Ave?

There wouldn't be any restrictions on sales, but there is some restriction or at least approvals through the committee needed before any demolition or construction can be sanctioned and permitted.

 

[PantherDave724]

A.) 100 year old homes built in the depression era?

B.) A large part of the area you described is Oakland Square, which is designated as a historic district by the city of pittsburgh. I don't know the rules, and I'm too lazy to look them up, but it seems highly unlikely that pitt could or would be able to blast those homes to smithereens without the city's historic review commission's approval.

Why not just make this whole damn city a historic district? It's insane how much land is wasted by "historic" buildings

 

[Pittx9]

I hear this a lot and don't get it!
If PITT closed up ( just for discussion purposes) or moved its campus out of Pittsburgh the cities economy would crater. Who knows it might be on its way to being another Detriot.
The U provides lots of discretionary dollars into the local economy.
The city and the U should be best buddies???

That's what I would think. I really don't get it either. UPMC is a universally known name, where does the city think that came from? Together the university and city have done a lot of great things, why they seem to treat the school as a second class citizen is beyond me.

 

[Ray-Ray]

For the area between Bouquet Gardens and Magee/Blvd of the Allies, what are the long-term plans for that area?

South Oakland is kind of a weird neighborhood because for one, the homes are very, very old and not well kept up. I believe most are Depression era and are around the 100 year old mark. The strange thing about it is if you were from outside the area and took a tour of SO, you might think its a low-income area because of its appearance. However, as Pitt grew up around SO, real estate companies started buying these homes. And being that the renters would be college students there would be very little incentive to keep the properties maintained since college students are looking for cheap rent and are very transient.

So what we have is a community of college students (and some older people who have lived there manh years) living in "ugly housing" which isnt well maintained.

What is South Oakland going to be like 20 years from now or 50 years from now? These are very old homes and real estate companies will continue to put the least amount of investment in them to pass code.

I am not sure exactly how Bouquet Gardens happened but Pitt over the years, Pitt bought almost that whole block and demolished those old houses. It is my opinion that Pitt should be buying every single SO home as it goes on sale to, in 25-50 years, demolish that neighborhood and build more Bouquet Gardens-esque housing, education buildings, and maybe even.....nevermind. This may already be the plan. My apartment on Oakland Ave (not the Bouquet side) was Pitt-owned and you'd never know it as there was no Pitt signage. Perhaps they are already trying to buy up this land, small home by small home.

Here is a true story on maintenance of rental units in SO. My daughter was sub-letting an apartment across from Katz a couple summers ago. She had the first floor apartment. She woke up to a horrible smell and noticed crap coming in the ceiling and down her walls. The sewage pipe broke in the apartment on the top floor and crap oozed all the way down. She moved out, but had to go back to get her things. While there, she noticed them replacing the ceiling tiles and painting over the crap on the walls. No cleanup of the crap. Scary but true.

 

[paulbl99]

Here is a true story on maintenance of rental units in SO. My daughter was sub-letting an apartment across from Katz a couple summers ago. She had the first floor apartment. She woke up to a horrible smell and noticed crap coming in the ceiling and down her walls. The sewage pipe broke in the apartment on the top floor and crap oozed all the way down. She moved out, but had to go back to get her things. While there, she noticed them replacing the ceiling tiles and painting over the crap on the walls. No cleanup of the crap. Scary but true.

SO is a DUMP

 

[Parkview57]

South Oakland is a DUMP

But it is OUR dump.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

I'm not sure how it works because Pitt does own apartments in Oakland. They were able to buy some.....including the ones ripped down to build Bouquet Gardens. Does the city have to approve every sale? If I have a house on Meyran Avenue and I want to sell it to Pitt because they are the highest bidder, I am not allowed? I mean I guess due to zoning maybe I cant but why was Pitt able to buy up almost all of Oakland Ave?

There wouldn't be any restrictions on sales, but there is some restriction or at least approvals through the committee needed before any demolition or construction can be sanctioned and permitted.

OK. So over the next 50 years, Pitt buys up all of South Oakland. Worst-case scenario, they make money off of rent. Best-case, they convince the city to allow them to raze everything and expand the university to include upping enrollment (which helps the city).

 

[NTOP]

OK. So over the next 50 years, Pitt buys up all of South Oakland. Worst-case scenario, they make money off of rent. Best-case, they convince the city to allow them to raze everything and expand the university to include upping enrollment (which helps the city).

College enrollments are down these days. Just adding more students is a bad idea. Dilution. We're already forced to have among the highest tuition rates for a public school. Hbg. ain't ponying up more in the future....it'll be flat or decreased. So we shouldn't be buying up anything large for a while. Let some developer do that. My daughter had a great setup at BGSU in a private enclave (I think that was the name, too.) 4-br/4 bath suite, walk to classes, nice pool & gym. About a 10% extra vs. dorms. Lots of those in other places, too.
Perhaps the unfriendly attitude from the Dems in City Hall are the reason there are none of those in Pgh.??

 

[SoufOaklin4Life]

South Oakland is a DUMP

You sound like a norf oaklin kinda douche

 

[paulbl99]

You sound like a norf oaklin kinda douche

You sound like your confused
As per usual

 

[SoufOaklin4Life]

Graduated last year. What I can say is that owners have all the leverage and because we are students like you said they have no reason to fix their properties. I however never felt unsafe in south O as most of the people that live there are college students, and Pitt Police honestly do a great job of patrolling the area. But then again I lived right next to the fire station on Mckee.

Students are too lazy is the truth.
I moved into a house in college which was leased for decades. Was told tell landlord didn't care and it was in bad shape.

I researched city ordinances, and wrote him a formal letter outlining the required repairs needed to be up to code.

The landlord came by, thanked me for the letter and said nobody ever told him- immediately went about repairing issues. I offered to start working on the cosmetic stuff and hauling out the cellar worth of junk accumulated over decades. He offered to pay for all the materials and reimburse me for any paint or supplies I used.

I have a hunch he wasn't the exception to the rule

 

[SoufOaklin4Life]

You sound like your confused
As per usual

My confused what?

 

[paulbl99]

My confused what?

Confused as always...your perpetual state of mind

South Oakland is a dump. Which wasn't directed at you at all but you felt the need to come in with your typical insults.

 

[SoufOaklin4Life]

Confused as always...your perpetual state of mind

South Oakland is a dump. Which wasn't directed at you at all but you felt the need to come in with your typical insults.

I didn't take it as directed at me..
Hence my reference to north Oakland being your preference.

My bet is more on you commuting from your parents.

Primarily pointing out your poor attempt at an insult while using incorrect grammar "your instead of you're"

 

[dv8765]

Is there anything legally preventing Pitt from buying land? Is it just the cost that keeps them away from buying properties that are put up for sale?

 

[CrazyPaco]

Is there anything legally preventing Pitt from buying land? Is it just the cost that keeps them away from buying properties that are put up for sale?

Pitt can and does buy land.

 

[dv8765]

Pitt can and does buy land.

Okay, thank you

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

I'm not sure how it works because Pitt does own apartments in Oakland. They were able to buy some.....including the ones ripped down to build Bouquet Gardens. Does the city have to approve every sale? If I have a house on Meyran Avenue and I want to sell it to Pitt because they are the highest bidder, I am not allowed? I mean I guess due to zoning maybe I cant but why was Pitt able to buy up almost all of Oakland Ave?

There wouldn't be any restrictions on sales, but there is some restriction or at least approvals through the committee needed before any demolition or construction can be sanctioned and permitted.

OK. So, does anyone think Pitt should buy every single South Oakland house over the next 50 or so years? They can rent them out until they have enough of them to demolish and build a new neighborhood along with new education buildings. If not, what is SO going to look like in 50 years? It has the strange dynamic of a low-income neighborhood but since it is so close to Pitt, landlords can do the bare minimum and make good rental income. If there was no major university next to it, SO would either be a low-income slum.

 

[paulbl99]

OK. If there was no major university next to it, SO would either be a low-income slum.

What do you mean would be...
It's a dump now.

 

[Swervin27]

OK. So, does anyone think Pitt should buy every single South Oakland house over the next 50 or so years? They can rent them out until they have enough of them to demolish and build a new neighborhood along with new education buildings. If not, what is SO going to look like in 50 years? It has the strange dynamic of a low-income neighborhood but since it is so close to Pitt, landlords can do the bare minimum and make good rental income. If there was no major university next to it, SO would either be a low-income slum.

some brutal homes in south Oakland, or Central Oakland which I despise referring it as but we'll save that for another thread... My older brother lived on semple and atwood his jr and senior year, 1992 and 1993, I drove by both places not to long ago and I'd be very confident in saying very little if any work has been done on these places since then. I'd almost bet the porch furniture is the same.. places will be condemned sooner or later. I am sure our beloved city will fight tooth and nail to have any pitt owned buildings go up though, need that tax revenue..