Back in town

Harrisburg sees resurgence in midtown, uptown areas

Sunday, February 27, 2005

BY ELLEN LYON

Of The Patriot-News

Andy Giorgione bought a town house in midtown Harrisburg in 1992 when he was single.

"I liked midtown because I could walk to the Broad Street Market [and] I could walk to work," he said.

In 1998, the Harrisburg lawyer married. In 2002, he and his wife, Kirsten Page, bought a 3,600-square-foot, 1930s-era home with six bedrooms on a double-lot on North Second Street where they now live. "You can't duplicate this house," he said. "We want to be here a long time."

The house has marble floors, brass lighting fixtures and other touches not found in your average suburban home today. Plus, it's close to the river, where Giorgione likes to run with the family dog, Sydney. The couple kept the town house in midtown where Giorgione's mother-in-law now lives.

As a real estate agent, Greg Rothman has followed the resurgence in popularity of such city neighborhoods as Shipoke, midtown and uptown since 1995. The gentrification of those neighborhoods -- the process of the middle class moving back into older urban residential areas and fixing them up -- has taken hold, he said.

"I don't see anything that's going to reverse it. The roots are so firmly planted," said Rothman, president and CEO of RSR Realtors and former president of the Greater Harrisburg Association of Realtors.

Twice in the last 10 years, he noted, the historic Shipoke neighborhood along the Susquehanna River has flooded "and they keep rebuilding, and the [home] prices keep going up."

Shipoke, once a working class neighborhood, has evolved into one of the most sought-after addresses in the city.

Other gentrified areas, such as the uptown neighborhoods around Italian Lake and North Second Street, offer larger yards and "more of a suburban feel in the city," Rothman said.

The next neighborhoods Rothman expects to rebound are the Fourth Street area behind Polyclinic Hospital, the Market Street corridor near The National Civil War Museum and Summit Terrace on Allison Hill.

"There's some beautiful homes there, stone homes that need to be rehabbed," he said of Fourth Street.

And a lot of money has been poured into low- and moderate-income housing in Summit Terrace, he noted.

Dave La Torre, president of the 500-member Harrisburg Young Professionals organization that promotes the city, said he, too, has heard about those neighborhoods because of their affordable housing.

For young people, childless couples and empty-nesters, city living can be particularly appealing.

"The greatest thing about Harrisburg is it's a one-stop shop. There's dining. There's entertainment. There's shopping," La Torre said. "There's so many things you can do in the city without getting in your car. You couldn't say that a decade ago."

Even for those with children, the city is becoming more appealing.

Although housing prices have climbed just about everywhere in recent years, you can still buy a bigger home with more square footage and "character" for less in the city than what you would pay in the suburbs, Rothman said.

Mayor Stephen R. Reed's takeover of the Harrisburg School District four years ago and the new Sci-Tech High School might keep more families with children in the city, Rothman suggested.

"It used to be young people would buy in the city, and then they'd get married ... and move to the suburbs to raise their kids," he said.

Giorgione and Page have a 2-year-old son Alex and another child due in July. The biggest challenge for them has been not having more kids in the neighborhood, he said.

When it comes time for the children to start school "we feel like we have plenty of opportunities and choices," including private schools, Giorgione said.

In the last five years, Giorgione said, he has seen a tremendous influx of young people moving into the city and fixing up homes.

"Prices are just going way up" and properties aren't staying on the market long, he said.

The only dark cloud on the horizon is the housing stock. "My concern is we don't have the supply to keep this going. We need to shorten the approval process to get new construction approval. I think the city is doing a lot to attract new home builders," Rothman said.

Builders have had no problem selling in the city, Rothman noted. As examples he mentioned the Capitol Heights development of town houses, duplexes and single-family homes in midtown and S&A Homes' development of eight single-family homes near Bellevue Park on the city's eastern edge.

One single-family home in Capitol Heights sold for nearly $200,000.

All eight of the S&A Homes' properties sold within a year for an average of $120,000, Rothman said.

Gentrification takes time, and it can be slowed by economic downturns.

"You can't fix up one house in the middle of a blighted neighborhood and expect someone is going to buy it," Rothman said. "You can't buy stuff and rent it out. ... People have to be committed to living there."

La Torre observed that a neighborhood's revival starts "one project at a time" until it reaches a "critical mass."

"We need entrepreneurs to take a look at other areas and say 'we did it along Second Street. We can do it here too,'" he said.

ELLEN LYON: 255-8153 or elyon@patriot-news.com