After 30 years in the hardware business, Mike Broniszewski is a pretty handy guy. The 42-year-old North Hills native is so knowledgeable that for the past 10 years he's dispensed home repair advice on Saturday morning's True Value Home Improvement Hour on KDKA radio with co-host Rob Pratt.

So in his own home, it's a simple matter of practicing what he preaches, right?

Not exactly.

Three years ago, Mr. Broniszewski and his wife, Marsha, sold their 75-year-old brick Tudor in Ben Avon and moved to a two-bedroom loft at the Cork Factory, an uber-hip factory-turned-apartment building in the Strip District. They've never looked back.

"It's really a lifestyle choice," says Mrs. Broniszewski, who grew up in Ambridge. "We realized that life is short, and this is so much fun . . . It's nice to come home and not have to worry about things like the foundation."

"I almost feel guilty because I'm on the radio telling people to clean their gutters and maintain their furnaces," says Mr. Broniszewski, owner of Sarver True Value Hardware.

The key word being "almost."

The Broniszewskis loved their old house, which they spent years fixing up. It's just that after years of making the 40-minute daily drive to and from their Butler County store, they were ready for a change.

Having sunk most of their savings into the business, moving wasn't an option. But renting someplace cool was.

The couple had always been intrigued by loft living. There's a certain edginess in a loft's high ceilings and open spaces. They also liked the idea of being near the beating pulse of the city. When they were looking, the Cork Factory had just started renting the first of its 297 luxury units.

The seven-story building complex along the Allegheny River was built between 1901 and 1913 as the home of Armstrong Cork, which produced flooring, life jackets and bottle tops for Old Grand Dad whiskey and Heinz ketchup before closing in 1974. Designated a historic landmark in 2004, it was designed in the Richardsonian Romanesque style by famed Pittsburgh architect Frederick John Osterling. Its $78 million renovation, started in 2005, took almost two years.

The waterfront setting is reason in itself to change addresses (there's a private marina for tenants, and river-taxi service to the North Shore). What drew the Broniszewskis was the Cork Factory's funky, upscale marriage of old and new. All the units feature exposed-brick, three-quarter-height walls and concrete ceilings with visible ductwork. A few, like their two-bedroom unit on the sixth floor, boast a private covered balcony. Each is wired for cable TV and high-speed Internet.

Moving from a 2,500-square-foot house to a 999-square-foot apartment would require some serious purging. Some items were sold at a massive yard sale, while treasured family antiques went into storage.

"It was really freeing to get rid of everything I didn't need," confesses Mrs. Broniszewski, who ended up decorating the new space with a fish theme after finding a metal shark at Art of Steel in the Strip District. (It dangles over the dining table.) Her contemporary art decorates the blue and yellow walls.

"I'm a Pisces," she says, laughing.

Among the loft's most striking architectural elements are a pair of 8-foot arched windows in the main living area. By day, the divided panes of glass flood the open floor plan with natural light and reveal the golden domes of St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish on 20th Street; at night, they offer a twinkling view of the city skyline and blue-lit "Three Sisters" bridges connecting Downtown to the North Side.

With space at a premium, the kitchen is fairly compact. Wine glasses and pots and pans are stored on open racks on the wall or atop the light-colored cabinetry; prep work is done on a small peninsula that doubles as display for condiments and paper towels.

The smaller of two bedrooms off the living area serves as a den and display space for art relating to the Broniszewskis' rival alma maters (he went to Penn State, she graduated from Pitt), including a 35th-anniversary poster from Zeno's. There's also a colorful collection of Pittsburgh post cards gleaned from flea markets, and next to the flat-screen TV, a trio of pen-and-ink drawings of famous Steel City sites. Large windows and a glass door offer an unfettered view of the covered porch.

The master bedroom is painted a vibrant orange and high enough from the street that they don't need curtains. Come to think of it, there's only one pair of drapes in the entire loft -- in the master closet -- instead of doors.

With maintenance and home repair a thing of the past, the Broniszewskis have plenty of time to enjoy the building's many amenities. A former engine room has been transformed into a community room with a fireplace, bar, pool table, plasma TVs and WiFi. Other amenities include an outdoor pool, business and fitness centers, a garden patio with firepit, and a private marina. Pets are welcome and even encouraged; there's a bowl of dog biscuits at the front desk.

"We don't even have to leave the building," says Mr. Broniszewski.

Tenants include everyone from artists and recent college grads to television producers, shop owners, a retired typewriter repair man and professional athletes (Hines Ward has a corner unit). Every Thursday, there's a happy hour in the lobby.

The couple stays in touch with their old neighbors, of course. But living in such a social environment has led to a whole new crop of friends.

"The social aspect is so different from suburbia," says Mrs. Broniszewski.

With a swimming pool and business center on site, a grocery street across the street and a yoga studio just a block away, she says, about the only thing that's lacking is a pharmacy.

"We bought our (Halloween) pumpkins for the store right there," she says, pointing across the railroad tracks to the Tom Ayoob fruit market at Smallman and 21st streets.

Trains are a fairly common sight; at least twice a week, whistles announce the arrival of box cars laden with bananas, apples, grapes and other fruit pulling into nearby Consumers Produce.

And after work? Mullaney's Harp & Fiddle Pub and Embury are two favorite haunts.

"We're having too much fun," says Mrs. Broniszewski. "I almost feel a little guilty."

Doug Oster writes a blog, "Growing With Doug," exclusively at PG+, a members-only web site of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.