As a student at Duquesne Law School, and then as an associate with a Downtown law firm, Jason Hines logged hundreds of hours and thousands of miles commuting from addresses in Shadyside, Mt. Lebanon, Scott and the North Hills.

Steve Mellon, Post-Gazette This fifth-floor loft in the Bruno Building at 945 Liberty Avenue offers a view of Smithfield Street. Click photo for larger image.

Now he says his commute is "45 seconds to a minute, tops, including elevator time."

The big change came last fall, when Hines moved into the Bruno Building, a six-story building on Liberty Avenue that had been renovated into loft apartments. He has an entire floor to himself, a great view, and going to work is a matter of crossing the street.

The Bruno Building is one of several projects undertaken in recent years by developers who hope that hip, upscale housing will breathe new life into Downtown by attracting new residents to the Golden Triangle. Residents who, like Hines -- a 32-year-old attorney -- are young, single and professional.

Between 2000 and 2003, developers brought 134 new units of downtown housing onto the market. The next two years will see the creation of more than twice as many units -- 318. Unless you also count the North Shore, in which case the number becomes 585.

In other words, the trickle is becoming a tide.

Here is a summary of the projects under way:

Heinz Lofts, 300 Heinz Street, North Side -- 267 apartments. Some are occupied now, and the remainder are to be completed by next spring.

930 Penn Avenue -- 23 apartments, to be completed by fall 2005.

100 Seventh Street -- 151 apartments, to be completed by spring 2006.

One Fifty-One Firstside -- 84 condos, to be completed by summer, 2006.

The Union National Bank Building, Fourth and Wood -- 59 to 60 condos, to be completed by fall 2006.

What may appear to be a rush, if not a conspiracy, to provide upscale housing Downtown has actually been years in the making, and each developer's path to Downtown has been different.

After The Ferchill Group's success with Bridgeside Point, a South Side office building that was fully leased upon its completion in 2001, the Cleveland-based firm was open to doing another project in Pittsburgh. When it learned about the availability of the former Heinz plant, it was drawn to it for several reasons.

"It seemed like there was a market," said Kevin Wiegand, chief financial officer. "There wasn't a whole lot of market-rate housing at the time."

The prospect of obtaining tax credits for restoring a historical building was another plus. And Ferchill's development team had worked on several similar projects in Cleveland's warehouse district, so they were familiar with the renovation of older buildings.

Ferchill is transforming four of the five buildings of the former Heinz plant into 267 upscale apartments (the fifth will be used for parking). Two of the buildings have begun moving tenants in; two others will be available in March.

The apartments, with one to three bedrooms, will range in size from about 600 square feet to 1,900 square feet, and will rent for $700 to $2,600.

In a nod to history, Ferchill is retaining the original names of the buildings, such as Cereal, Bean and Meat.

Rugby Realty's decision to renovate 930 Penn Avenue came largely in response to other developments nearby.

"We are very bullish on these couple of blocks of Penn Avenue for the successes of the cultural trust and convention center," said Vice President Larry Walsh. "We think it's the right thing to do to help the neighborhood and we just think that the timing is right."

At 930 Penn Avenue, Rugby is deconstructing six floors of office space to create 23 apartments, and to make them available by fall of 2005. The mix of one and two-bedroom units will rent for a projected $1,900 to $2,300 a month.

Like Rugby, Lincoln Properties wants to exploit the successes of the Cultural District, the new David L. Lawrence Convention Center and the stadiums; and like the Ferchill Group, the company is building on an earlier success of its own. Lincoln at North Shore, an apartment complex across the river from the convention center, has been a hit with local tenants since its opening in 1997, boasting both the highest rents and the highest occupancy rates in the city, according to Vice President Kevin Keane.

"A number of people asked us if we were going to do the next step," Keane said. "Our demographic study tells us that most of our residents are people who can afford a higher rental rate, should you give them a higher quality product to spend it on."

The company heeded the market's call, and 100 Seventh Street was born.

In a giant hole at the intersection of Seventh Avenue and Fort Duquesne Boulevard, Lincoln's construction crews are laying the groundwork for the building that will be the largest new housing project in Downtown proper. The 151-unit complex, slated for a spring, 2006 opening, will have a mixture of one- and two-bedroom units priced from $1,084 to $2,253 a month, plus two penthouses that will rent for $3,300 to $3,400.

For those who would rather own than rent, Ralph A. Falbo Inc. is building One Fifty-One First Side, an 18-story condominium that will have 84 units. Falbo expects to break ground on the project by January, and to complete construction by summer of 2006.

The building will have entrances on both Fort Pitt Boulevard and First Avenue. Prices for the condos will vary according to the size and design of the individual units, which will be configured to suit the needs and tastes of the individual owners, said President Michael Polite. He added that the average unit would be 1,600 square feet and sell for around $406,000.

Finally, Columbus, Ohio-based E.V. Bishoff plans to convert the Union National Bank building at Fourth and Wood into condominiums, creating 59 to 60 two-bedroom units on the building's upper floors. Construction is slated to begin in the spring, with completion by fall 2006.

The units will start at around $200,000, and will be marketed toward "empty nesters."

The city has long acknowledged the importance of new housing to the revitalization of Downtown. In January 1994, incoming mayor Tom Murphy, speaking at the confirmation of Eloise Hirsh as head of the city planning department, said his administration "will focus on Downtown. We need to revitalize it. It's our center. We have the strengths to do things in housing."

But it was six years before City Council gave developers one of their biggest incentives by passing an ordinance providing tax breaks for those who develop rental housing in the Cultural District and Firstside (along the Monongahela River), as well as the Strip District and Uptown.

The 2000 measure exempted developers from paying increases in property taxes following improvements to their properties. It granted abatements of 100 percent of the increase in the first year, 90 percent in the second year and so on for 10 years. The provisions were an expansion of an earlier program that had provided tiered abatements over a period of five years.

One of the first beneficiaries of the tax abatements was the Regional Industrial Development Corp., which had plans to convert the former GNC headquarters, which it owned, into apartments.

With Oxford Development Co. as its developers, the RIDC created the Penn-Garrison, a 117-unit apartment complex at 915 Penn Ave. The Penn-Garrison opened its doors in April 2001, offering a mix of units ranging from 500 square-foot studios to two-bedroom units measuring more than 2,000 square feet. With rents ranging from $880 to $2,700 a month, the Penn-Garrison's occupancy rate in recent months has been about 90 percent, property manager Fred Sorrentino said.

The Bruno Building, Hines' home, had already been completed when the 2000 ordinance passed, but the developer, Eve Picker, took advantage of the new tax breaks on her next two downtown projects

In both cases, Picker continued working the formula that worked with the Bruno Building: acquiring a smaller Downtown building and converting it into lofts. Liberty Lofts, at 905 Liberty Ave., opened in 2002 with eight units. 947 Liberty Avenue, with three units, opened in 2003.

The Bruno and 947 Liberty Avenue are full, but 905 "has been a little more difficult and we really don't quite know why," Picker said. "It's a lovely building and the spaces are gorgeous."

Upscale means amenities, and each of the new projects has its own blend of niceties, including fitness centers, laundry units, broadband Internet, cable, club rooms and, of course, designated parking.

But for all of these projects, the most important amenities may be the ones that they all share -- the amenities in the neighborhood itself, including three theatres, two sports stadiums, a concert hall, and a raft of bars and restaurants.

At least, Jason Hines seems to think so.

"I've gone to more events over the past year than I probably have in my entire life combined," he said. "I think I've only been to one play since I've been Downtown, but I may have not gone to that one if I hadn't been Downtown."

Asked how long he plans to live Downtown, Hines answered, "I'm definitely down here for another year, possibly the year after that," adding that when he begins raising a family, he might move into the suburbs for "a place with a yard."

"But for now, having the city as a yard is great. The city is my playground."