Pittsburgh Homes Daily

If you are looking for a community of people that love a good park, and know how to use it, then Highland Park is for you.  From Shadyside, a short ten (?) minute drive north past Friendship and East Liberty places you in a neighborhood almost surrounded by a 300+ acre park, known as Highland Park.  Beyond the park is the Allegheny River, and to the West is Morningside.  In addition to the park, Highland Park is known as the home of the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium.  A map of Highland Park is available on the City of Pittsburgh website.

If you are looking to explore this weekend, the Great Highland Park Yard Sale is on Sunday.  If that’s short notice, the 2006 Highland Park House Tour is on September 30th.  By that time, there will also be panda bears at the Pittsburgh Zoo (scheduled for August of 2006).  For those who can’t make it to Highland Park, you can check out the images at the Highland Park Community website.

The Highland Park website has lists of the businesses and organizations operating in Highland Park.  They are also putting together a website with information about the park.  Until it is done, you can supplement it with information from the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, which has great information about all of the major parks in Pittsburgh, including Highland Park.

There are a range of different older homes and homes converted into apartments in Highland Park, at a broad range of prices.  Generally, you pay more for living near the park, and less if you live near East Liberty.  But as homes are renovated and further progress is made in East Liberty, I expect that the price gap will narrow. 

There are a number of community organizations that are interested in the preservation of older homes and buildings and the promotion of community in the area.  That is evident from the Highland Park Community Development Corporation, the Union Project, and East End Main Street.  If you are looking to fix up an older home, you’ll find plenty of support from your neighbors in Highland Park.

Public transportation is available from Highland Park to Downtown (though I hear it isn’t as convenient as from Shadyside / the East Busway or from the Trolley line on the South Side).

If you’d like to read more about what others have written about Highland Park, try the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s (1) The city neighborhood that could; (2) Highland Park looks at its assets, challenges; and (3) Highland Park’s grandeur reborn.