Assets
An exceptionally walkable neighborhood, Uptown is located between the second and third largest economic drivers in PA—Downtown Pittsburgh and Oakland, Pennsylvania’s center of ‘eds and meds’. As a neighborhood of the culturally rich Greater Hill District, Uptown is also a stone’s throw from exciting recent development and redevelopment plans along the Centre Avenue spine. And a walk over the Birmingham Bridge, at our portal, is the dynamic, youthful energy of the historic South Side.
Uptown is located in the Pittsburgh Central Keystone Innovation Zone, which provides financial incentives to new technology-based businesses, and resources via Duquesne University, to support entrepreneurial growth while revitalizing the community. Avenu is also a dynamic driver of entrepreneurial growth in the neighborhood, providing a collaboration of work spaces dedicated to supporting equitable business development. Avenu, formerly StartUptown, opened the first co-working space at 1936 Fifth Avenue in 2009 establishing the first of its kind in the Pittsburgh region.
Uptown is home to anchor institutions Duquesne University, UPMC Mercy hospital, and the Pittsburgh Penguins, partners in our revitalization journey. Increasingly new businesses, co-working facilities, offices, and a mix of market rate and affordable housing units are locating in Uptown because its ideal location, easily accessible to all major thoroughfares.
The region’s most robust public transit routes run through Uptown’s Fifth and Forbes corridors—a convenience for those working Downtown or points east. The much anticipated Bus Rapid Transit system, potentially launching in 2019, will feature comfortable, energy-efficient electric buses on designated lanes, enhanced bus stations, real-time traffic signalization, and other features that expect to increase ridership and decrease reliance on vehicles. BRT planning is part of the EcoInnovation District Plan, and if Uptown is approved for federal transit funds, the Fifth and Forbes corridor will undergo an infrastructure transformation…with new streets and sidewalks, lights, and underground storm water management improvements. Streets will be more ‘people-first’ and friendly, safer for pedestrians and bicyclists.
Uptown is home to an organic artist enclave on Gist Street, where artists have created an outdoor gallery of mixed media along the avenue. Murals are scattered throughout the neighborhood, on sidewalks, dumpsters and building facades…with more public art planned as the Uptown EcoInnovation District unfolds.
While Uptown has lost much of its built environment, many architectural treasures still remain, such as the Fifth Avenue School, now market-rate lofts, a stunning row of historically intact buildings in a once renown wholesale district, a former Elks Hall, Eye and Ear Hospital, and charming row homes in transition. Numerous large surface lots present exciting new-build opportunities to further diversify the unique architectural fabric of the neighborhood.