Brookhill- Another booming urban district in Charlotte adjacent to the trendy South End District

I only included the half of Brook Hill east of Tryon as it is significantly more urbanized. West of Tyron is largely mid-century low density project housing, but urban mixed-use developments are incrementally replacing parts of it. Fortunately 100 of the mid-century projects will be renovated and preserved as affordable housing, providing crucial affordable housing as the neighborhood continues to gentrify.

Brookhill is very young professional oriented and thus most of the residents are renters. But a sizable amount of 2-bed condos and 3-bed townhouses are filling in. Brookhill was historically a mid-century low century warehouse area with limited historic single family homes. Given its proximity to Charlotte’s new light rail, and parallel recreational trail, it became an ideal place for new urban apartments with lots of retail and food & beverage amenities. Given its proximity to the two light rail stations and the trendy South End neighborhood Brook Hill is arguably one of Charlotte’s top 5 urban districts. But the district has been rather haphazardly developed and thus lacks a strong sense of place and quality connectivity. It also lacks important urban amenities more conducive to families including larger single family homes, few parks, limited walkable schools and a lack churches, medical offices, a public library, and post office. Quality urban development is well on its way to transforming the previously autocentric South Blvd but Tyron Avenue remains very car oriented. But with more urbanization, Brookhill will continue to densify and urbanize hopefully with better comprehensive planning and placemaking. than the previous decade of development.

Click here to view my Brookhill neighborhood on my Flickr Page.

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Excellent public transit access including a light rail line running along the eastern edge of the district.
* Very convenient access to Uptown across all modes of transit. A well design bike/recreation trail runs alongside the transit line.
* Great retail amenities including a small format Lowe’s and smaller format hardware store, a Publix’s, several high end clothing and furniture stores, a couple drug stores, a large array of home good and furniture stores, and boutiques, a couple banks, and the Atherton Mall and great urban format mall with lots of amenities. Broomhill also contains a several dessert joints, several gyms, a miniature golf course,
* Excellent economic diversity and solid racial diversity as almost half of the population are minorities.
* Great cultural amenities including tons of restaurants, bars, several breweries and cafes, a couple art galleries, a couple live music venues.
* Tons of rental product but on the more expensive side. Studios sell anywhere btwn 1.5K-2K, 1-beds lease btwn 1.4K-3K, 2-beds btwn 2K-4K, and even a lot of 3-beds product, which lease btwn 2.5K-4K. Thankfully a couple 100 units from the 1950s Brook Hill village product development will be preserved.
* Lots of quality urban infill but almost all are larger block apartments with ample parking underneath creating not the best urban fabric nor imaginable neighborhoods. Still a lot of bland post WWII warehouses remain in Brookhill.
* Urban infill is certainly improving the urban massing on the district but plenty of autocentric uses remain especially along Tyron St. Urban design of the neighborhood is also not cohesive and each new apartment product seems to be on an island as opposed to messing with the neighborhood as a whole.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Only a couple dedicated bike stations on the edges of Brookhill.
* Streets do connect but very sinuous and often large blocks.
* Most of the population are young adults so not a ton of generational diversity.
* Missing places of worship, a post office, public library, and hospital or medical offices.
* Parks are limited in Brookhill to only a recreational trail and the southside recreational park on the southern edge of the neighborhood.
* Tree canopy is so so.
* Some for sale product but on the expensive side. Really no 1-bedroom condos. 2-bed product sells around 400K-500k. 3 & 4 beds sell btwn 500K-700K.
* No schools in the Brookhill boundaries but some small schools on the edges.
* Really no historic buildings left in the neighborhood.
* Pedestrian activity is so so.

West Greenville- An Inner Greenville Neighborhood on the Rise

“Outside the city limits and policed by a single “rural policeman,” Stradleyville (that old term for West Greenville) was a place where illegal activities flourished. Eventually residents had enough and Stradleyville finally incorporated as a separate town in 1914 to help establish some semblance of law and order. Slowly the neighborhood filled in and by WWII West Greenville had a thriving business district where Pendleton and Lois Streets meet. The town merged with the City of Greenville in 1948. The neighborhood like many other inner city districts in Greenville slid into a slow decay likely in the 60s and 70s thanks to the closing of the mills and suburban sprawl. Thankfully West Greenville is on the rebound capitalizing on the rise in fortunate across all of Greenville. Revitalization started with the business district, which is now thriving, and many expensive new homes are being built here.

While the business node at Pendletown and Lois Street is in-tact and thriving, the neighborhood as a whole still has a fair amount of blight and is low density for an urban district. The eastern edge of West Greenville remained most in-tact and currently hosts the neighborhood’s best market values thanks to its proximity to the West End. Other than the Pendletown/Lois node, the main streets in West Greenville are pretty dead and autocentric. Public transit is also mediocre here and parks and good schools are limited. Important amenities including a full service supermarket, drug store, and consistant sidewalks are also crucial for West Greenville to be a more walkable place. But with the urban boom in Greenville as a whole, I am hopefully that the neighborhood will fill in and urbanize.”

Click here to view my West Greenville Album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Great access to Dwtn being only 1.5 miles away.
* Good amount of affordable housing but lots of higher end new housing is being constructed. 2-beds sell btwn 100K-400K and 3 & 4 beds sell btwn 150K-900K. Decent amount of public housing here.
* Good Tree canopy but not as good as more affluent neighborhoods.
* Nice in tact urban commercial node at Pendleton and Lois Ave. Also hosts attractive historic commercial bldg but historic residential homes are generally nothing special.
* Good cultural amenities including plenty of restaurants, bars, cafe, a couple live music venues, a brewery, and a couple art galleries. Residents living in the Eastend of West Greenville are pretty close to the cultural amenities of the West End.
* Decent retail amenities including several boutiques & gift shops, a couple salons, several banks, a bakery, a jeweler, plenty of churches, and a major hospital just south of the neighborhood

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Very low population density for an inner city neighborhood.
* About 1/3 of the streets don’t have sidewalks.
* Mediocre public transit access.
* 1/3 of the residents live in poverty but it seems that well is starting to move into the neighborhood.
* Some rentals but all single family homes leasing in the 2Ks.
* Other than a small community garden there really aren’t any other park spaces. There is an extensive park (Unity Park) just north of the neighborhood but across railroad tracks.
* Until about the decade West Greenville was pretty impoverished and high crime area. With the revitalization that came to the neighborhood the past decade crime is being enough less and less of an issue.
* Only one quality school on the edge of West Greenville. Also a small Catholic grade school.
* Other than the urban node at Pendleton and Lois Ave the arterial roads (Pendleton and Academy St) are very auto centric.
* Urban commercial in-fill is limited but lots of decent new urban homes.
* Missing a proper supermarket, drug store, or a walkable library or post office.
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Greenville’s North End- an emerging Urban District just north of Downtown

The Concept of the Greenville North End is pretty new and rather fluid. But there is an emerging consensus that it includes the area North of Dwtn running along North Main extending all the way North into more suburb development. For this evaluation I included only the more urban areas and therefore used Ashley/Gallivan St as the northern border between Rutherford St and Church Street with Academy Blvd as the southern border.

There are a collection of smaller historic districts within the North End but there are all tiny and not worth evaluating on their own. This includes Viola Street Historic District, Heritage Historic District, Colonial Elias Earle, and East Park. These istricts, however, collectively still make up the majority of the North End area that is included in this evaluation.

The North End has a lot of standard suburban amenities including good schools, safety, large #s of families, thick tree canopy, and quality parks. The district also has attractive early 20th century homes, excellent access to Dwtn given its proximity just to the north of Dwtn, a wide variety of housing options and price points, decent cultural and retail amenities, and pretty good economic and racial diversity.

To become a great urban district, the most important thing the North End needs is to densify. This is starting to occur with more apartments going up along Stone and Park Ave but the neighborhood is still closer to a suburban density. More density will help foster a much more vibrant neighborhood with better retail/cultural amenities and hopefully encourage the City to establish better public transit frequency.

Colonial Elias Earl Historic District and the Heritage Historic District

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Stone street is starting to fill in with more mixed-use urban infill.
* Generally good ADA infrastructure but a couple streets without sidewalks and several without modern ADA curb cuts.
* Excellent access to Dwtn, esp driving but there is also a good dedicated bike station running north to south along Main St.
* Some Income diversity and racial here but def a solid upper middle class area.
* Lots of families here and generally generational diversity.
* Decent number of rentals. 1-beds lease btwn 1K-2K, 2-beds lease btwn 1.5K-2.7K and a handful of 3-beds.
*Good for-sale diversity but only a handful of 1-beds. 2-beds sell anywhere from 150K-800K, 3 & 4 beds sell btwn 275K- to the low Millions.
* Several small-medium sized parks with McPherson as the largest most diverse park space and includes a small rec center.
* Decent schools with an excellent public elementary school, Catholic school and several pre-schools.
* Cultural amenities include a decent # of restaurants, a brewery, several museums, a performing arts theater, and a couple escape rooms. Good access on the southern edge of the North End to the Dwtn amenities.
* Decent retail amenities as well including a supermarket, a couple drug stores, a record store, several salons, a florist, a couple gyms & churches.
* Attractive historic homes.
* Excellent tree canopy.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

Mediocre public transit access esp for an inner-ring neighborhood.
Mediocre density for an urban area.
Connectivity is so so here.
A good amount of autocentric modern infill but more recent infill is decent mixed-use development.
Best urban form is at the intersection of Main and Stone Ave. Some quasi-urban form along Stone and Park but also plenty of autocentric stretches.
Not great pedestrian activity.

The Pettigru Historic District- Greenville’s Best Historic District

This small neighborhood is bound by North St, Washington St, Church and 276. In the end of the 19th century the neighborhood was subdivided, developed and became Greenville’s first upscale suburb. By the 1970s, the elite neighborhood had transitioned into a commercial historic district, and the apartments and larger homes were converted into offices.

Nominated in 1981, the Pettigru Street Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places making it the largest district in the city. The District is home to 88 structures built between 1890 and 1930.From an urban standpoint Pettigru’s best asset is its proximity to downtown and historic character, and the expansive Cleveland Park on the southern edge.The District also has some good retail concentrated at McBee Station, a decent amount of for-sale housing options, and good bike lanes.
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But the District has no historic main street and the arterials it does have are wide and very autocentric. Density is more akin to a suburb, there are no schools located in the neighborhood, rentals are limited, there is lots of crummy post WW II commercial bldgs., and there is a Confederate Museum… unfortunately. But given Greenville’s explosive urban apartment growth I do believe Pettigru will continue to urbanize and fill in. Hopefully the urban design is of decent quality and North and Washington Streets can become more pedestrian friendly.

Click here to view my Pettigru Historic District on my Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

Decent bike infrastructure wit h multiple bike lanes and easy access to the recreational trail along the reedy river which connects to Dwtn.
Great access to Dwtn Greenville sitting just to the east of it.
Excellent economic diversity and decent racial diversity.
Good for-housing diversity with a decent # of condos with 1-beds selling 200K-500, 2-bed selling btwn 250K-550K, 3 & 4 bed sell btwn 350K-600K.
Large metro park on the southern edge of the neighborhood (Cleveland Park), which includes a Zoo, ballparks, tennis courts, recreational trails, but no small parks or plazas within the neighborhood.
Generally a pretty safe neighborhood.
Lots of old mansions from the late 19th century. Homes are no mostly office but Historic district has preserved their original character from the exterior.
Retail amenities are concentrated mostly at the McBee Station shopping plaza located a block south of the neighborhood. The Mall has a supermarket, staples, several restaurants, and a couple other neighborhood retail. Other than that there’s a bank, a running store, tons of law offices, bed & breakfasts, a couple churches. Decent access to some amenities Dwtn.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Density is pretty low for an urban neighborhood.
* Connectivity isn’t great.
* Mediocre public transit access esp for an inner-ring neighborhood.
* Excellent Income diversity
* Lots of preschools within Pettigru or Dwtn but no other walkable schools. Some well rated schools about 1-mile away but again not walkable.
* Rentals are pretty limited. A bit on the pricy side.
* Cultural amenities are limited to a several restaurants, the Bon Secours Arena, a wedding venue, and the” Confederate Museum” * cough * cough. But many Dwtn cultural amenities are walkable.
* Lots of crummy auto centric post WW II housing. Really no quality urban in-fill here.
* No cohesive urban commercial district. The main arteries North and Washington are both wide streets and very autocentric.

Greenville’s West End- the City’s best Urban District located right next to Downtown

The West End was originally known for hosting Furman University which was established in 1852. But unfortunately the university moved to a more suburban location several miles outside of Dwtn. This could have been a great asset to Dwtn given its close proximity to the West End. After the turn of the twentieth century, many textile mills moved into the area. The neighborhood feel into disrepair soon afterwards. But the West End benefited greatly from Civic Leader’s focus on renovating downtown and the Reedy Riverfront as much of this revitalization work occurred in the West End since the 1970s. The District is now Greenville’s best urban district (by a long shot) and the arts and entertainment center of the city.

From an urban perspective, I most appreciated how well the West End ties in seamlessly to Dwtn thanks to the Reedy River Recreation trails and Falls Park, the short bridge between the two and the vibrant commercial districts along Main Street and Augusta that tie seemly to Dwtn. West End has great cultural and retail amenities and is ground zero for Greenville’s urban apartment boom. The neighborhood is also very safe, has great schools, and is buzzing with pedestrians and tourists. For the West End neighborhood to be truly a great urban district it still needs more density, better residential in-fill and development in its low-density streets, better bike infrastructure, and a full service supermarket.

Click here to view my West End Album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Excellent Access to Dwtn being just to the west of it.
* Generally good ADA infrastructure but plenty of intersections without modern ADA curb cuts.
* Good economic diversity but limited racial diversity as the neighborhood is 77% white.
* Several solid public schools representing all grades surround the edges of the West End. Also a Catholic grade school nearby.
* Lots of modern apartments. Studios and 1-beds lease in the low to high 1Ks. Tons of 2-beds as well that lease in the 2Ks. Only a handful of 3-beds.
* Overall the neighborhood is very safe.
* Quality historic commercial but limited historic residential remains.
* Lots of modern apartment and mixed-use in-fill but of varying urban quality and design. This is the south so parking often takes the driver’s seat in terms of design and layout.
* Pretty good urban form along Augusta and Main, especially near dwtn. Still a good amount of surface parking. Overall good streetscaping.
* Good pedestrian activity especially along Main Street and the Falls park.
* Very popular district with a lot of buzz.
* Great access to the Falls Park on Reedy and river trail on the Reedy. But really not other parks in the neighborhood leaving the western edges of Payne-Logan about 1/2 mile from any parks.
* Excellent cultural amenities here including a wide array of food & bev businesses, several live music venues, a couple theaters, several art galleries, and a minor league ball park. Walkable access to many Downtown cultural amenities as well.
* Good retail amenities including lots of boutiques/clothing/gift stores, a drug store, several banks, plenty of dessert joints, a couple churches, and a major hospital is only 1/2 mile from Payne-Logan.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

lots a breaks and lack of connections for a typically urban neighborhood street grid.
Mediocre density for an urban neighborhood.
So so public transit access. A couple dedicated bike stares and small dedicated bike lane segments.
Few households with children here. Median age is pretty diverse however.
Other than a handful of the older SF homes that remain, for-sale housing is very expensive. 1-bed condos general sell in the 700Ks-800Ks. Lotso of 2-bed condos and townhouses but they sell between 650K-1.3M. 3 & 4 bed sell anywhere from 350K-1.5 M depending on size and age. Handful of affordable housing options in the West End.
Missing some key retail amenities (i.e. supermarket, post office, public library)”

Downtown Greenville, SC

Downtown is bound by Academy to the west and North, the river to the south and roughly David Francis to the east. Greenville was nothing special compared to other mid-sized American cities in the south for much of its history. It has a historic main street where all the City’s shopping was concentrated, industry and warehousing along the river closest to Dwtn, and major downtown decline and urban renewal projects in the 60s and 70s. But what separates Dwtn Greenville from many of its peers is the civic leadership in the 1980s & 1990s. The City made major investments in new streetscaping, especially along Main street, attracted a new Hyatt Regency, and redeveloped the Reedy Riverfront into trail and recreation space taking advance of the Reedy River Falls. At the same time the urban West End neighborhood on the other side of the river redeveloped creating a seamless urban connection to Dwtn. Local shops opened, antique skyscraper were renovated, and new urban infill buildings started to fill in. Most recently the City has created a quality civic center and pedestrian zone with the creation of the One City Plaza and pedestrianizing Lauren St.

But I won’t say that Downtown Greenville is the best mid-sized City southern Downtown and there is certainly room for continued urban improvement. I place Dwtn Knoxville, Lexington, and Chattanooga ahead of it. The western, northern, and eastern edges of Dwtn are still plagued with surface parking lots, dead spaces and wide boulevards, dwtn’s residential population is below average, public transit access is sub-par, and the City’s main post office, convention center, and public library are located outside of Dwtn. But with Greenville’s continued explosive growth, including inner city growth, I have hope that Dwtn Greenville will continue to urbanize in a positive way.

Click here to view my Downtown Greenville Album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Main st is the north to south spine of Dwtn and is the beating heart of Dwtn many intact historic 2-3 story bldgs with active shops. Also contains Dwtn’s better antique skyscrapers. Washington St east to west also has good urban form and active store fronts. Laurens St hosts several semi-pedestrian blocks.
* Most of Dwtn (other than the outskirts) has modern ADA curb cuts.
* Good bike infrastructure within Dwtn branching out to some of inner city neighborhoods with a few suburban connections. Good bike share system Dwtn & in the West End with several other inner city neighborhood stations spread throughout.
* Good amount of rental hsg but on the price side. Studios are located mostly in the Westend. 1-beds lease anywhere btwn 1.2K-2.3K, 2-beds btwn 1.5K-3K, and some 3-beds btwn 4-7K.
* Good amount of for sale product and diversity. Studios are limited. 1-beds sell btwn 300K-700K, 2-beds btwn 350K-800K, and a decent # of expensive 3-beds selling btwn 650K and the low 1ms. Some affordable hsg dwtn.
* Several quality schools in and around Dwtn including a Catholic and public grade school, Arts High school, and the main high school is located less than 1 mile for Dwtn. All rated well.
* High level of safety in Dwtn Greenville.
* Good historic stock esp. along Main Street. Pretty impressive number of urban in-fill bldgs for a City of it’s size concentrated near the West End.
* Quality streetscaping on many Dwtn Streets even outside of Main St.
* Solid tree canopy esp. along Main St.
* Good pedestrian activity especially along Main St. Certainly plenty of dead areas on the edges of Dwtn.
* Really good buzz and vibe dwtn.
* Excellent park and recreational trail along the Reedy River and Falls. The One City Plaza is a well designed Civic Plaza with ample seating and uses spilling into the plaza. A couple other decent plazas and a historic cemetery exist Dwtn.
* Great cultural amenities with plenty of food & bev businesses, several small & medium theaters, several live music venues and art galleries & museums. Regional amenities include a sports arena and ballpark just south of Dwtn.
* Retail amenities include a Publix, a drug store, plenty of boutiques/clothing stores & gift shops, a bookstore, plenty of dessert joints & gyms,

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

Plenty of surface parking on the western, northern, and eastern edges of Dwtn.
Urban density is below average for a Dwtn.
Public transit is pretty poor across Greenville and its suburbs. Dwtn has decent public transit but sub-par compared to almost any other American Dwtn.
Street network is a bit sinuous for a Dwtn. Roads are pretty wide especially on the edges of Dwtn.
Not a ton of generational diversity dwtn but decent # of museums including a children’s.
Only a handful of small satellite colleges in Dwtn. Larger colleges with 3-5K students are located 2-3 miles for Dwtn.
No large parks in Dwtn Greenville.
Convention center is a couple miles outside of Dwtn.
A couple 20K people work in Dwtn which is about average for a Metro of Greenville’s size.
Post office and public library are located just outside of Downtown. The closest hospital is a couple miles from dwtn and few medical offices.”

Hershey, PA- Home to the Famous Chocolate Company and now a Sattelite Suburb of Harrisburg

I only included the walkable core of Hershey in this evaluation which is generally bound by Hockersville Rd to the west, Homestead to the east, Governor Rd to the south and the railroad tracks to the north. in the center and eastern parts of Derry Township

The town was founded by Hershey in 1903 for the company’s workers, and their homes had modern amenities. The town, however, has remained unincorporated and has always technically been part of Derry Township. The purpose of Hershey was to create a utopian worker town in a bucolic setting. This utopia however was shattered in 1937 with a strike and occupation at the chocolate factory, which ended violently when some strikers were severely beaten by a rally loyal to the company. Hershey did recover from this traumatic event and continued to grow and open up the amusement park to general visitors (as opposed to only Hershey Employees).

The core of Hershey is a decent urban environment with a small main street along Chocolate Ave, with the recent construction of Hershey Towne Square as a decent walkable shopping area. Lots of idyllic early 20th century single family American homes that have been well kept and retain their values. Hershey also has good suburb amenities including great parks, a rec center, quality schools, and safety. With the urbanization of its Downtown area, Hershey now has good retail and cultural amenities. For Hershey to become a better urban and walkable environment it needs better public transit and bike amenities, more apartment buildings, much more density and more urban infill and the conversion of 422 into a functional urban corridor.

Click here to view my Hershey album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

Access to Dwtn Harrisburg isn’t great from Hershey but a good number of jobs in Hershey isn’t albeit not with great public transit access.
Pretty good ADA and sidewalk infrastructure. Sidewalks are consistent. ADA curb cuts are consistent along the biz district but exist on about 1/2 of all residential intersections.
Excellent schools in Hershey, which isn’t a surprise as this was a major priority of Milton Hershey and his legacy. All schools are located just southeast of the Hershey core, so walkable to many residents. The Milton Hershey Boarding school is also here, which provides free education to around 2K orphans.
Hershey is a very safe community with limited blight.
For sale housing is on the high side but decent diversity with a fair # of 2-bed condos/townhouses selling btwn 150K-500K, 3 & 4 beds sell btwn 300K and 800K with some mansions selling the low to made 1Ms.
Good but not great tree cover in Hershey.
Attractive historic homes in Hershey but not spectacular. Several historic institutions with grand architecture but few historic commercial building. Recently decent urban downtown in-fill has been constructed but still a decent amount of auto centric uses.
Great parks in Hershey including a large rec center, which is surrounded by extensive parks amenities (playground, tennis courts, ballfields), and a nice dwtn plaza (Chocolate town Park). Also extensive recreational spaces just outside of the Hershey core (Hershey Zoo, Hershey Gardens, Founders Park, Hershey Country Club, and Hershey Theme Park).
Much of Hershey’s cultural amenities are located on the edge of town requiring a car but a good array of restaurants, bars, cafes, the Hershey Story Museum, the Historic Hershey Theater, and a couple brew pubs).
Also decent retail amenities including a supermarket, Fresh Market (includes many local shops and farmer’s market vendors), a couple drug stores, several boutiques & gift shops, several banks, a couple florists, several dessert spots & a couple gyms, plenty of churches, a central post office and public library just on the edge of town, a couple doctor’s office and a major hospital sits on the south eastern edge of town.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

Public transit is pretty limited in Hershey.
Not great density for an urban area.
Some dedicated bike lanes in Hershey but they don’t connect to Dwtn Hershey nor Harrisburg.
Rental product is moderately priced but just not a lot of it as few apartments exist in the center city.
Historically Hershey’s urban form and streetscaping has been pretty autocentric along 422 (the main thoroughfare going through Dwtn) but there has been some recent improvements to the Downtown core with new streetscaping and decent in-fill buildings along Chocolate Ave. Quality urban form does start to drop off along 422 outside of this core.”

Harrisburg’s Uptown District- a turn of the 20th Century District with Good Urban Bones Experiencing a Resurgence

The Uptown neighborhood began as a natural outgrowth of Harrisburg in the late 19th century as the wealthy built homes away from the congestion and pollution of the central City. The oldest parts of the district are located in its southern border near MacClay St where most of the homes are typical east coast rowhouses (except the detached mansions near the river). As one travels northward in Uptown the typology transition to lower density with more single family and duplexes. This transition turns completely to single family homes once you reach Italian Park, a wonderful urban park centered on a large manmade pond. Hurricane Agnes in 1972 caused significant flooding and damage to Uptown and created a great wealth divide in the neighborhood. Areas west of 4th avenue and north of Italian Park maintained their wealth and stability but blocks east of 4th Avenue where more working housing was construction and industrial uses were concentrated slipped into poverty and disinvestment. It is not until recent decades that blighted blocks have begun to recover and there is still a lot of reinvestment needed in Uptown.

Uptown has good urban bones especially south of Italian Park with its rowhouse and gridded urban fabric. Sadly due to the disinvestment of the neighborhood and lack of a cohesive urban business district, Uptown really lacks retail and cultural amenities. Uptown hosts a lot of attractive housing that is relatively affordable and decent amount of rental stock. The neighborhood also hosts quality park amenities but could use more dedicated bike paths. What Uptown needs is more investment, especially mixed-use development east of 4th Avenue. This would go a long way in returning this district into the vibrant walkable community it historically was.

Click here to view my Uptown album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Very convenient access to Dwtn. Only a 5-10 min drive, 10 min bike ride, and 20 minute bus ride.
* Great connectivity thanks to a grid and small blocks.
* Nice recreational drive and dedicated bike lane along the river but not much else from a bike infrastructure standpoint.
* Great economic and racial diversity .
* Really no 1-bed condos. For-sale housing is rather inexpensive especially considering this is an east coast City. Plenty of 2-bed rowhouses that sell anywhere from 50K-250, 3 & 4 beds sell between 60K-350. Some of the larger mansions sell around 500K.
* Decent number of rentals but also on the affordable side. Lots of 2 & 3 beds generally leasing in the low to mid 1Ks. But limited studio and 1-bed apartments. Good amount of dedicated affordable housing here.
* Decent parks including the charming Italian Park with its man made pond, recreation trail and sports fields; 7th & Randor Sports Park, a couple playgrounds, and the recreational trail along the Susquehanna River.
* Good tree canopy but certainly disparities between the wealth and poorer pockets of the neighborhood.
* ADA infrastructure is good in parts of Uptown especially closer to the Dwtn. The northern edge of the district often lacks curb cuts all together but there are always sidewalks here.
* Lots of attractive historic houses especially the single family homes along the river and around Italian Park. Lots of good rowhouses especially that ones that are well maintained.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

Only one walkable public elementary school within Uptown and a bunch of small private schools. Also a couple decent public schools in the adjacent Midtown district which is walkable to some Uptown residents.
Public transit is certainly not as good as it should be for a pretty dense inner city neighborhood.
Safety is a mixed bag in Uptown depending on whether you live in the stable or poorer parts of the neighborhood. Lots of blighted housing and vacant lots east of 4th Street but the City has done a decent job implementing a clean and green strategy for the vacant lots.
There isn’t a strong business district in Uptown. Instead retail is often low end (think convenience and dollar stores) and generally spread out or located with the Uptown Plaza Strip Mall. Retail amenities including a Save a Lot, plenty of groceries, a couple pharmacies, a couple clothing stores, several salons and barber shops, a couple gyms, a local library and post office.
Cultural amenities is very limited in Uptown. Within the neighborhood there is an art gallery and a couple bars… that’s it! All the cultural amenities are located in the adjacent Midtown district, which is walkable to some Uptown residents.
In fill is limited to several quality in-fill rowhouse projects but also some unattractive auto centric strip malls and industrial uses along 7th Ave.
Buz in Uptown has been historically poor but seems to be improving.”

Ambridge, PA- originally an early 19th century Harmony Society Settlement, transformed into a Pittsburgh rivertown in the early 20th century

The Harmony Society first settled the area in the early 19th century, founding the village of “Ökonomie” or Economy in 1824. Although initially successful, accumulating significant landholdings, the sect went into decline. By the end of the 19th century, only a few Harmonists remained. Today, the site is a historic district under the “Preserve American Community” status and seventeen buildings have been carefully restored structures to what they would look like between 1824 and 1830. Plenty of other historic buildings from the Harmony Society build in the mid-late 19th century still stand as well. The Harmony Society sold its vast real estate holdings in the late 19th century mostly to the American Bridge Company, who subsequently enlarged the town and incorporated it as Ambridge in 1905. Naturally being within the Pittsburgh orbit steel mills were built along the river and Ambridge witnessed a population boom fueled by eastern and southern European immigrants. Ambridge became known for bridge building, metal molding, and the manufacture of tubes. Yet like most rivertowns around Pittsburgh, Ambridge has lost a significant amount of its peak population of 20K in 1930. Surprisingly Ambridge began seeing large population drops even before the 1960s as it lost almost all of its population by 1970. In recent decades population declines have slowed and Ambridge now hosts just below 7K. Somehow with a 65% population loss Ambridge still retains most of its buildings and urban fabric. Most recently the Borough has seen an influx of Hispanic residents taking advantage of the community’s low housing costs.

Ambridge really has three separate business: Lower Merchant, which was developed around the turn of the 20th century, upper Merchant which contains many early to mid 19th century buildings that were part of Old Economy Village and a couple blocks of Duss Avenue in the Northeast quadrant of the Borough. Upper Merchant is the most stable of the 3 businesses district thanks to the tourism from Economy Village but Lower Merchant still hosts a good number of business given its sheer size. Duss Avenue has several restaurants, bars, and a couple dessert joints. There are really not any abandonded residential parts of Ambridge. Its either stable or gritty depending on the block. Hopefully Ambridge continues to attract Hispanic immigrants as that will go a long way to filling the many vacant store fronts along Lower Merchant. The Borough could also use more parks, better tree canopy, and a couple bike lanes. This is an urban community with good bones that could be a great river town with the right investment and population attraction.

Click here to view my Ambridge, PA album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Large and mostly intact business district along Merchant St, although a decent amount of vacancy here.
* Recent streetscaping improvements that includes making all intersection ADA compliant. About 50% of intersections on residential streets are ADA compliant.
* Solid connectivity and grid throughout most of the Borough.
* More of a working class town but decent economic diversity.
* Good # of 1, 2, & 3 beds. Very affordable rents.
* For sale housing is also very affordable with some 1-beds selling btwn 50K-120K, 2-beds btwn 50K-185K, 3 & 4 beds sell btwn 50K-200K.
* Decent cultural amenities including lots of restaurants, bars, & cafes. Also several breweries, a local theater company, and all the Old Economy Village Historic sites.
* Old Economy Village is extensive and preserve some really not early and mid 19th century building. The rest of Ambridge is pretty plain turn of the 19th century architecture.
* Decent retail amenities including several small groceries, a couple drug stores and dollar stores, a hardware store, several bank branches, a book store, several boutiques and antique shops (mostly by Old Economy Village), a flower shop, several dessert joints, a couple gyms, a historic post office & library, a bike shops, tons of churches, and a handful of medical offices.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

Dwtn is a 40 min drive and public transit is 45 minutes, not bad considering Ambridge is 20 miles away.
Decent but not great density. Some with transit access.
Bike infrastructure is non-existent.
Largely White population but decent Black population and the Hispanic community is growing.
Only the high school is located within Ambridge. Good size and decent ratings. Others schools one most drive to in surrounding communities.
Really no higher end housing options here. Everything is quite affordable.
Walter Panek and Ambridge Park are pretty large and multi-faceted but located on the northeast corner of the Borough and not walkable to most residents. The only other park space are the basketball courts at the high school.
Some safety concerns here and grittiness but not much abandonment except along the business districts of Merchant St and Duss Ave).
Modern in-fill is largely non-existent other than a handful of auto centric buildings.
Tree canopy is so so.”

Aliquippa, PA- Satelite City of Pittsburgh and largest City in Beaver County

Aliquippa is the largest city in Beaver County. The City was formerly the location of a large Native American trading center but was arbitrarily named Aliquippa as one of several Indian names selected by the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad in 1878 for stations along its route. Aliquippa is best known as the location of a high producing steel mill constructed by Jones and Laughlin Steel Company in 1905. Employment at the facility maxed out at 27,023 in 1940. The mill closed in 1984 during the collapse of the steel industry. but the City’s population had been declining since its peak in the 1930s (27K). Aliquippa’s population now sits at just 9,000 but fortunately the population decrease is showing signs of slowing as the City only lost 200 people between 2010 and 2020.

Aliquippa used to have a bustling main street along Franklin Avenue with several impressive mid-sized building. To date only a handful of these buildings remain and most commercial activity has moved to the City’s western edge along the auto centric Broad & Sheffield Streets. Aliquippa’s most intact blocks are along the western 1/3 of the City with the most abandonded parts of the City located north and east of Franklin Avenue. Hard to know where to start with revitalizing Aliquippa given the lack of economic opportunities in the City and larger Beaver County area. Stabilizing the blight is likely step 1, which seems to be happening somewhat with the City’s slowed population decline. Stabilizing the remaining historic buildings on Franklin Ave is certainly crucial to bringing back vitality here. I would also like to seem some urban design improvements to the very auto centric Broad and Sheffield Streets. Broad needs sidewalks and buildings along Sheffield should be built up to the sidewalk (which exist here). Hispanics seems to be slowly moving to the area. Immigration should certainly be encouraged as it is the best path to revitalizing the City.

Click here to view my Aliquippa, PA album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

Some decent park space including several sports fields, a playground, and cemetery.* Good tree canopy thanks to all the hillsides and vacant lots. Street trees are hit or missing on residential streets.
Good racial diversity as 1/2 the population is White, 1/3 Black and 3% Hispanic.
Some retail amenities but focused on autocentric Broad & Sheffield. This includes an Aldi’s, a couple dollar generals, a couple drug stores, several banks, a couple boutiques and salons, plenty of churches, and a handful of medical offices. Still a public library, historic post office, and pharmacy along Franklin Ave.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Broad, the biz district along the western edge of Aliquippa, is very auto centric and lacks sidewalks.
* Poor density for an urban area thanks to the hilly terrain and many abandonded parts of the City.
* ADA appropriate infrastructure is limited to just the historic Business Core on Franklin Ave.
* Located about 30 miles from Dwtn Pittsburgh. Commuting by car isn’t terrible (40 mins) but you are located at 1 hr-1.5 hrs. by bus. Biking is not really a viable option.
* No bike infrastructure.
* Poverty is widespread here including about 1/3 of the residents and medium income is only 37K. Some higher incomes though.
* Population is aging and is 6 years above the PA median age which is already very high.
* A good number of schools in Aliquippa but most are poorly rated or small private schools.
* Housing is very cheap in Aliquippa and the rougher parts of the City especially east and north of Franklin Ave have few homes selling more than 50K. For sale housing in the more stable parts of Aliquippa range anywhere from 50K-200K depending on size & condition.
* Rentals are generally limited to 3 & 4 bedroom units but are pretty affordable.
* Cultural amenities limited to a handful of restaurants (many of them fast food along Broad & Sheffield) and bars.
* Lots of blight and abandonment but doesn’t appear that Aliquippa has a terrible crime problem.