University Times

The Board of Trustees property and facilities committee on Oct. 8 approved preliminary funding for a 109-bed residence hall at Pitt-Bradford and for laboratory renovation projects in the Thomas E. Starzl Biomedical Science Tower (BST) and Chevron Science Center.

UPB residence hall

The property and facilities committee paved the way for Pitt-Bradford to proceed with plans to build a 40,120-square-foot, three-story residence hall. The project cost is $9.3 million, $5 million of which will come from auxiliary debt and $4.3 million from auxiliary reserves.

The new student housing will be located on the lawn adjacent to Hanley Library. Ground will be broken this fall in order to have the building ready for fall 2014.

The new residence hall will be arranged primarily in two- and three-bedroom suites with two full bathrooms, living rooms, kitchenettes and storage closets.

In conjunction with the project, 85 parking spaces will be added to an existing lot to accommodate UPB’s increasing student population.

Project details provided to the trustees committee stated that, in addition to growth, Pitt-Bradford’s student demographics have changed. Full-time students from outside the Bradford region now outnumber local students, resulting in an increased demand for on-campus housing.

Despite the opening of the 103-bed Sarah B. Dorn House in 2010, UPB had to assign approximately 50 students to live off-campus this year, at a cost of more than $351,000 for the fall term. In addition to the expense, the off-campus housing “does not provide the affected students with an appropriate on-campus experience,” the project documents stated.

Lab renovations

• The Starzl BST project will renovate approximately 25,000 square feet of laboratory space on the 10th floor to consolidate and expand the School of Medicine Department of Immunology’s research activities. The $9.7 million project aims to replace the aging labs with modern, open laboratory space that facilitates collaboration and is flexible to respond to changing research needs.

Funding will come from senior vice chancellor health sciences reserves.

• The Chevron Science Center project will modernize 7,500 square feet of instructional laboratory space on the building’s first floor at a cost of $3.9 million. Funding will come from provost reserves.

According to project documents, one lab will accommodate instructor training and practice experiments and nearly 1,200 square feet will be repurposed to add a general chemistry lab in response to the increased number of freshmen who require the core laboratory program.

The project will provide space for three additional offices in the faculty office suite.

—Kimberly K. Barlow