Trading Places: Urban Transplants Downtown City Living

Pittsburgh Magazine - April 2009
By Anne Lutz Zacharias

Living downtown and in the nearby Strip District is a growing trend, and the number of residents there is expected to increase by 20 percent this year. Meet three couples and two singles who left the sprawling suburbs for high-rise living and are loving city life.

They sit in a glass room. The fire's reflection dances on the warm wood floor. Black-granite countertops and sleek furniture create a feeling of contemporary elegance. But it's the view... the view mesmerizes; it distracts the conversation; it takes their breath away. The buildings look close enough to touch. Their surfaces reflect the city's glow with occasional windows of light punctuating the darkness. They can see tiny ice-skaters in the distance. It feels like New York, Chicago, San Francisco. But it's not... it's Pittsburgh.

Living right in the heart of the city - downtown and the nearby Strip District - is a growing trend in Pittsburgh. It's hot, and it shows no signs of stopping. The number of people living in the Golden Triangle area is expected to increase by 20 percent in 2009. To compare, in 1990, 1,569 people lived in the area. In 2000, 1,645 people called the Golden Triangle home, and by 2008, the number was up to 2,148.

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