Annie O'Neill, Post-Gazette Pat and Don Guter are among the empty-nesters who heard about 151 First Side condos and quickly put down a deposit. Click photo for larger image.

Brian Ritz, a corporate attorney at the Downtown law firm Klett Rooney Lieber & Schorling, grew up in the northern suburbs of Allegheny County but prefers urban life, where he's close to work, shopping and entertainment.

While walking to lunch one day, Mr. Ritz noticed a banner hanging from the old Union National Bank building. The banner announced that the property at Fourth and Wood was being rehabbed into 61 upscale condominiums. He checked it out on the Internet and soon put money down.

"When you can walk two blocks up to the office or a couple blocks to the Strip District or the theater or restaurants, it's very appealing," said the 32-year-old Mr. Ritz, whose two-bedroom unit on The Carlyle's 15th floor is expected to be ready for occupancy in early 2007.

Mr. Ritz is among a new breed of urban pioneers -- buyers and renters who are willing to commit to several new residential projects under way in the Golden Triangle, including The Carlyle and 151 First Side, an 82-unit condo high-rise going up along Fort Pitt Boulevard near the Monongahela River. They believe that, despite its tattered Fifth and Forbes retail district, Downtown has a bright future.

So, apparently, do several developers. Just last week, Washington County's Millcraft Investments said it plans to convert the empty Lazarus-Macy's department store at Fifth and Wood into luxury condos and retail shops, perhaps including a boutique grocery store. The Millcraft project, headed by the same person who did the successful Southpointe development, joins a growing list that is adding hundreds of posh residences Downtown.

"I wanted to get in early because I think we're on the verge of something big happening Downtown," said Mr. Ritz. "In about three years, I think Downtown will be quite different than we know it today. There's definitely going to be an energy once they have a population of residents like myself, people who don't leave after 5 p.m." Other proposals in the works that could help make Downtown a more attractive investment for housing include plans to remake the old G.C. Murphy store near Market Square into new retail shops; and plans by PNC Financial Services Group to develop housing, retail and office space on a rag-tag corridor along Fifth Avenue near Lazarus-Macy's.

A number of other smaller lofts, apartment, and condo developments also are in the works, including a plan by former New York Times style editor Holly Brubach to buy the 115-year-old Granite Building at Sixth and Wood and convert it into luxury condos and retail.

Mr. Ritz, who currently owns a 100-year-old home in Friendship, typifies the young professionals, mostly single or married without children, who are buying some of the new condos Downtown.

The buyers also include empty-nest couples who can afford to live close to cultural amenities and no longer want the worries of home maintenance, said Carole Clifford, associate broker with Coldwell Banker Real Estate, which is marketing The Carlyle and 151 First Side.

Developers of The Carlyle, where prices range from $189,000 to about $300,000 for two-bedroom condos, have sold 20 percent, or about 12 of the total available units. At 151 First Side, 30 of 82 units have been sold and five sales are pending, said Brett Malky, president of EQA Landmark Communities, the developer. Its prices range from just over $200,000 to $1.7 million for one of two penthouses. The other penthouse sold for $1.2 million.

Pat and Don Guter are among the empty-nesters who heard about 151 First Side and quickly put down a deposit.

"People coming from outside the city are more open to moving Downtown than people from Pittsburgh," said Mrs. Guter, whose husband began a job in August as the new dean of the Duquesne University Law School.

The couple owned a townhouse in the Georgetown section of Washington, D.C., before they relocated here and set their sights on living within walking distance of Duquesne.

Until their new two-bedroom, two-bath condo is ready in about a year, the Guters, whose two grown daughters reside in other states, are living in a one-bedroom unit they purchased in Gateway Towers.

"Some people said we couldn't live Downtown because there is no grocery store, no gas station. But I wanted to. People kept telling us that to live in the city we had to be in Shadyside, Squirrel Hill or Mount Washington. Those are nice areas, but not where we wanted to be."

The base price of the Guters' new condo is $347,000 but Mrs. Guter expects the final price to be around $500,000 because of amenities they have added to the plans, including a gas fireplace, steam shower and extra parking.

Mrs. Guter said she shops for groceries in the Strip District -- which she walks to -- or at Whole Foods in East Liberty or Giant Eagle in Shadyside.

When she runs out of such essentials as laundry detergent or kitty litter in between trips to the supermarkets, she can walk to numerous drugstores Downtown that carry food and other household items.

If a boutique grocery store and other retail shops open in the former Lazarus-Macy's store, "That would be wonderful. The more people living in town, the more stores, gas stations and restaurants will come."

Mrs. Guter, a certified financial planner who works out of her home, often walks to meet her husband after work and they stroll to restaurants, theaters or to professional functions he attends in the evenings.

"A lot of improvements have to be made but that's the revitalization of any city. I see a lot of change and I'm a firm believer that though there is a lot of blight, there are good things. I go to church Downtown, get my hair cut and there are good places to eat. It's full of life."