Downtown condos selling fast to diverse clientele

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - May 21, 2008
By Kevin Kirkland

When Murugan and Roshni Subramanian decided to buy their first home together, Mr. Subramanian argued for Downtown and the urban lifestyle he's grown to love since moving here from India when he was 17. Mrs. Subramanian considered herself to be "more of a Wexford-type person," he said, and wanted a townhouse.

Their compromise? A two-level, three-bedroom, 2,600-square-foot condominium at 941 Penn, where only two of the building's 17 units are still available. She got her townhouse and garage; he got his Downtown address. "The location is fantastic," he said.

Young professionals such as the Subramanians -- he's 31, she's 28 -- are the sort of buyers developers expected for new Downtown residences that have been going up all over.

What developers didn't count on were buyers such as a 60-something French scientist who plans to retire in a condo at another new Downtown residence, The Carlyle, or Vince and Patty Quatrini, a Greensburg couple who bought a unit in 941 Penn as a second home, lured by its proximity to theaters, sports and his work as an attorney.

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