University Times

June 15 vote expected on MPAC, second phase of Bouquet housing

At a committee session yesterday, June 9, Pittsburgh City Council voted to send two Pitt construction projects to full council vote on June 15, according to a City Planning Commission official.

At a public hearing June 3, University administrators and Oakland community leaders had urged Pittsburgh City Council to approve Pitt's plans to construct a six-story academic building and add more undergraduate student housing in South Oakland.

Susan Golomb, executive director of Oakland Planning and Development Corp. (OPDC), Oakland Business and Civic Association president Michael Chizmar and Kathy Boykowycz, president of the Oakland Community Council, all spoke in favor of the construction projects at the June 3 hearing.

But council member Jim Ferlo threatened attaching an amendment blocking approval "unless Pitt withdrew its lawsuit against the city. If there's a way to block or stall this, I'm going to try to do it, given the University's Neanderthal position "of not granting medical benefits to same sex domestic partners of faculty and staff."

Pitt's Executive Vice Chancellor Jerome Cochran quickly corrected Ferlo. "For the record, the University of Pittsburgh has not filed a lawsuit against anyone; not the city or city council or anybody. The University is defending itself in a suit filed against it."

Cochran and Ferlo were referring to the lawsuit brought in 1996 by former Pitt legal writing instructor Deborah Henson, which is still in litigation. Henson alleges the University violated the city's anti-discrimination law by denying health benefits to her lesbian partner.

Eloise Hirsch, director of city planning, told the University Times that in the June 9 city council committee session, "Councilman Ferlo had no support from council for his proposed amendment" The vote was eight members for, with Ferlo abstaining, she said.

Paul Supowitz, of Pitt's Office of General Council, told the University Times, "There is a process in place in these matters. The zoning board, the planning commission and the city have codes and ordinances that need to be followed and, if they are, the projects deserve [city council's] consideration on their own merit, without [outside attachments] of this sort," Supowitz said.

Pitt is seeking city council approval for constructing phase II of the Bouquet Gardens housing project and the Multi-Purpose Academic Complex (MPAC).

Both construction projects garnered conditional City Planning Commission approval April 20. (See University Times, April 29.) The City Zoning Board of Adjustment granted a zoning variance for the housing project April 8. The MPAC site did not require a zoning variance.

If city council grants approval, phase II of the undergraduate housing project will add five buildings and 304 beds in garden-style apartments on the Oakland Avenue/South Bouquet Street/Sennott Street property.

The three-building, 192-bed phase I construction, approved last fall, is expected to be completed Aug. 1. University officials have set an August 2000 completion date for the second phase at an estimated cost of $9.2 million.

Among the conditions attached to Pitt's housing proposal by the planning commission was that the University reach agreement with People's Oakland, a social services agency and long-time occupant in a University-owned building on the construction site.

According to John Wilds, director of the Office of Governmental Relations, the University transferred the deed to a building on Atwood Street to People's Oakland, which in turn sold it to the Oakland Planning and Development Corp. With the money from the sale, People's Oakland is leasing space in the Oakland Professional Building on Bates Street.

Maureen Cook, People's Oakland executive director, told the University Times that Pitt paid relocation costs for the move to the Bates Street building, a fact Wilds confirmed. "People's Oakland now rents two-and-a-half floors and we plan to consolidate our whole operation there," Cook said. "We're very happy with the arrangement."

The American Civil Liberties Union, which had its Oakland offices in property on the new housing site, purchased the home of a Pitt faculty member on Atwood Street. The University paid the ACLU's relocation costs, Wilds said.

Pitt also is seeking permission to construct a multi-purpose academic center (MPAC) in the block bordered by Forbes and Oakland Avenues and South Bouquet and Sennott Streets, just north of the housing project.

MPAC is targeted to house the College of Business Administration, the psychology and computer science departments, a law school clinic, a police mini-station, first-floor retail space facing Forbes Avenue, and public parking for about 90 cars. The facility will cover about 31,500 square feet. The projected cost is $32.4 million. Construction is expected to take 24-27 months after groundbreaking, which has not yet been scheduled.

At the public hearing June 3, council member Ferlo said, "I'm not sure we want to grant approval of [MPAC] until we know what store or stores are going in there."

Cochran said Pitt hired consultants to study the overall retail situation in Oakland. "We want a retail operation to be successful and marketable. And we want it [in conjunction with] what the city wants, the community wants, students want," Cochran told city council.

Oxford Development Corp., a local consulting firm, will have a report completed by end of summer or early fall recommending potential retail tenants, Cochran said.

City council chair Bob O'Connor said, "We don't want another food court there. We don't want something that says to the [University faculty, staff and students based in the MPAC]: 'Don't go out into Oakland. Stay in the building.' And we don't want three or four 'Ma and Pa stores' that will turn over all the time," O'Connor said.

Cochran assured council members Pitt would seek their approval before finalizing any deals with retailers. The University will listen to any legitimate opposition to recommended choices, he said.

Cochran told the University Times that a pharmacy chain had approached Pitt about renting the space, but had been rejected because the chain insisted on a certain layout of its store that did not fit the architectural design of the space. "For now, we're waiting for the consultants' report before any decisions are made," he said.

After Golomb, executive director of OPDC, spoke in favor of both projects, Ferlo asked if her group had been consulted on prospective tenants for the MPAC building.

"Did the University just give lip service to the community or were you actively involved?" Ferlo asked.

"We were pretty involved," Golomb said. "We were definitely consulted on this. My own first choice is a major clothing store. Especially one that sells women's clothes, I think, is what's needed there. A possible second choice is a Barnes & Noble or Borders," she said.

Oakland Business and Civic Association president Chizmar also endorsed the projects and urged city council not to delay approval pending a named retailer. "We should wait for the consultants' recommendations before we debate what they may say," said Chizmar, who also chairs the newly formed Oakland Business Improvement District group.

O'Connor concluded the hearing by praising Pitt for its initiatives and for working with the community. "I think council as a whole is very supportive of what Pitt's trying to do here. There's been a tremendous turn-around at Pitt in terms of working with the community in the last couple years. I think Oakland can become another Georgetown in the next five years, where people from [different neighborhoods] can come and will want to come," O'Connor said.

–Peter Hart