Carpenter is like a lot of young professionals who haven't left Pittsburgh. But Carpenter, a telemarketing campaign manager, won't be sticking it out in Forbes Terraces, the Squirrel Hill apartment complex near the corner of Forbes and Murray Avenues that has been his home for four years.
Carpenter takes it personally.
Centering on a communal courtyard that offers a nearly Edenic calm in the heart of a busy urban neighborhood, Forbes Terraces is one of a handful of Squirrel Hill garden apartment complexes built by Thomas Watkins 80 years ago. The HRC has approved the designation, which must be ratified by City Council. Walnut Capital faced similar charges of historic insensitivity and gentrifying a funky Squirrel Hill garden apartment complex just last year, when it bought and renovated another Watkins property, Beacon Gardens. The Necciais nominated that complex for historic designation as well, and while the HRC supported the designation, City Council rejected it. And change is inevitable.