KDKA Investigates: Will The Luxury Apartment Boom Go Bust?
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- The sounds and sights of massive construction projects fill the eyes and ears. Huge luxury apartment buildings are sprouting up in just about every city neighborhood.
They are in Oakland, over in Lawrenceville, down in the Strip District, and on the banks of the Mon River on the South Side. There are nearly 3,000 new units citywide.
But nowhere are there more than in East Liberty, which has become a vibrant hub and magnet for new transplants like Adam Harris who just moved from Chicago into the newly-opened, 360-unit Eastside Bond Apartment complex.
Rents there range from $1,500 to $3,000 a month. Pretty steep by Pittsburgh standards, but renters from places like Boston, New York and San Francisco are happy to pay.
"You definitely get a lot more bang for the buck around here than what you would expect in somewhere like Chicago," said Harris.
Coming to Pittsburgh for jobs at tech firms like Google, PNC Bank, the hospital and the universities, out-of-towners are snapping up the new apartments. But the draw of upscale urban living seems to be attracting locals as well, both young and old.
"Our demographic is generally young professionals, but we do have emptynesters, we have people who are selling their homes, moving from the suburbs and into the city," said Victoria Jackman, of Eastside Bond Apartment complex manager.
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Not yet complete, about 50 percent of Eastside units are already under lease, and Jackman says she'll have no problem filling them all.
But others cast a skeptical eye on this building boom, predicting it will eventually go bust.
KDKA's Andy Sheehan: "You don't think we have enough people to fill these buildings?"
Hoddy Hanna: "I don't see where they're going to come from."
Hanna, of Howard Hanna Real Estate, says much of the luxury apartment boom here in Pittsburgh and in cities nationwide is being fueled by easy financing and unrealistic expectations.
Hanna says much of the job growth in the city has leveled off, and another burst of employment will be needed to sustain the boom.
"There's going to be a bubble somewhere in the rental housing market in the next year and half," he says.
So, will it be a boom or a bust? Right now, this luxury apartment boom shows no signs of abating, but only time will tell if this will be the first wave or the last one.
