University Times

The major capital project approved by the trustees property and facilities committee is a 10-story, 559-bed undergraduate student residence hall at the corner of Fifth Avenue and University Place. Earlier plans called for 11 stories.

The Board of Trustees property and facilities committee this month approved 16 construction and renovation projects estimated to cost $152 million. The trustees budget committee is expected to take action on the projects later this month, Pitt officials said.

Both the trustees budget committee and the property and facilities committee must approve capital budget projects costing more than $1 million.

The major capital project was the approval of a 10-story, 559-bed undergraduate student residence hall at the corner of Fifth Avenue and University Place at a total projected cost of $59 million. The 1st floor will consist of commercial retail space, and the 2nd floor will house the Student Health Service and the Counseling Center.

“Undergraduate housing and student services were identified as high priorities in the University’s 12-year facilities plan adopted in 2006,” said Jerome Cochran, executive vice chancellor and general counsel. “We estimated a need for an additional 500 beds to recruit and retain a diverse and highly qualified student body. This new facility, located in the center of campus, will create a sense of community among the freshman students.”

According to Eli Shorak, associate vice chancellor for Business, the design of the residence hall has been altered since his presentation to the Pittsburgh Planning Commission in March. (See March 17 University Times.)

Specifically, the design changed from 11 stories to 10, and from 578 beds to 559.

Shorak explained, “We constantly challenge the design team to create the most efficient design in terms of cost per bed and square feet per bed when designing a residence hall, while at the same time maintaining all necessary programming and support space. In this case, we eliminated an entire floor and made the remaining floors more efficient. … Overall, this is part of the process to design the best possible building within budgetary guidelines.”

Shorak added that the design changes do not require further city approvals.

The committee also approved $41.3 million to construct a five-story, 57,000-square-foot addition to Parran and Crabtree halls to accommodate research facilities for the Graduate School of Public Health (GSPH). The project includes infrastructure upgrades to Parran Hall. Pitt is seeking LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification for the project.

Other capital projects approved for the Pittsburgh campus include:

• A $6.53 million project to renovate the first four floors of Thackeray Hall and provide infrastructure upgrades. The project will provide new classrooms for the School of Arts and Sciences, as well as space for the University Registrar and related offices;

• A $5.9 million project to renovate the A-Stem Laboratory in Scaife Hall for the School of Medicine’s Department of Neurosurgery;

• A $5 million project to provide programmatic and infrastructure upgrades to Allen Hall and Old Engineering Hall (OEH);

• A $2.48 million project to create in the basement of OEH a quantum transport laboratory capable of low-temperature physics research;

• A $1.33 million project to renovate physics teaching laboratories on the 4th floor of OEH, including the creation of a new optics laboratory;

• Renovations to Thomas Detre Hall that will add 10 inpatient beds on the 7th floor and relocate the Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic pharmacy. The project will cost $3.38 million;

•A $2.7 million project to renovate the 1st and 2nd floors of 3343 Forbes Ave. to accommodate the relocation of the University Center for Social and Urban Research (formerly housed on the site of what will be the new freshman residence hall), and

• A $1.29 million renovation to the 2nd floor of Eberly Hall to create a wet laboratory and a spectroscopy laboratory for physical chemistry research in bio-nanostructures.

An additional three renovation projects were approved for Chevron Science Center:

• A $4 million renovation of the 2nd-floor laboratories to enable the transition of the general chemistry program to a program with high-density instructional laboratories that employ digital-probe and chemical-sensor technology;

• Creation of a molecular characterization facility on the 3rd and 4th floors to house up to eight nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometers, X-ray diffraction equipment, offices and mechanical support systems. The $3.89 million project is expected to centralize and consolidate research projects.

• A $1.38 million project to convert 10th-floor lab space for inorganic and materials chemistry research into new facilities focusing on nanoparticle research, with applications ranging from solar-cell development to medicine.

Three projects also were approved for Pitt’s regional campuses:

• Construction of a two-story, 16,900-square-foot building on the Greensburg campus to house computer technology, faculty offices and support space with an emphasis on sustainability. The $7.5 million project is seeking LEED silver certification;

• A $1.4 million project to upgrade the infrastructure at Pitt-Greensburg’s Chambers Hall, and

• A $4.6 million addition and renovation project for the Titusville campus’s McKinney Student Union food service facility. The project will expand retail dining options at the Boomers food court. The addition includes 5,200 square feet of new space for food service and dining and 2,900 square feet for kitchen and support space. The new facility will replace the food service facility at Ball Hall.

Funding for the construction projects will come from a variety of sources, Pitt officials said. Depending on the project, funding will come from provost reserves, Arts and Sciences reserves, education and general funding or debt, commonwealth funds, gifts, auxiliary reserves or debt, senior vice chancellor for Health Sciences reserves, UPMC capital funds or food service vendor contributions.

According to press materials distributed at the Oct. 3 meeting, the construction and renovation projects are expected to generate 737 construction and 295 construction-support jobs.

Pitt will pay building permit fees of approximately $127,890.

The property and facilities committee also approved nine leases or lease extensions, which also must be approved by the trustees budget committee when they exceed $500,000:

• A two-year lease extension through June 30, 2013, for the Student Health Service in the Medical Arts Building, 3708 Forbes Ave.; annual cost of the lease $563,012, with an annual increase of 1 percent.

• A five-year lease renewal for the School of Medicine’s Departments of Otolaryngology and Ophthalmology for research, clinical and office space in the Eye and Ear Institute Building at 203 Lothrop Street, through June 30, 2016; annual cost of $1,162,828, with an annual increase of 1 percent.

• A 65-month lease renewal and expansion for the School of Medicine’s Center for Craniofacial and Dental Genetics in the Bridgeside Point One building on Second Avenue in the Pittsburgh Technology Center, through Sept. 30, 2016; annual cost of $540,988, with an annual adjustment based on the prorated cost for operating expenses.

• A new five-year lease for GSPH to relocate functions being affected by the Parran and Crabtree halls construction to the Keystone Building, 3520 Fifth Ave., through April 30, 2016; annual cost of $144,222, with an annual adjustment based on taxes and insurance costs.

• A three-year lease renewal for research laboratory space for the Department of Urology in the Shadyside Medical Center, 5200 Centre Ave., through June 30, 2014; annual cost of $496,174, with an annual increase of 1 percent.

• A five-year lease renewal for three programs in the Department of Epidemiology in the Bellefield Professional Building, 130 N. Bellefield Ave., through Dec. 31, 2016; annual cost of $445,747.50.

• A new seven-year, four-month lease for the Department of Medicine’s Research Administration Office in the Forbes Allies Center, 3109 Forbes Ave., through June 30, 2019; annual cost of $141,000, with a prescribed increase in month 41, to be adjusted based on an additional sum of 21.7 percent of the increases in operating expenses.

• A five-year lease extension that combines two subleases for the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute in the Magee Women’s Research Institute, 204 Craft Ave., through Sept. 30, 2016; annual cost of $712,617, with an annual increase of 1 percent.

• A new 20-year lease for the Physical Activity and Weight Management Research Center to relocate its research operations to the Oak Hill Town Center Building, Oak Hill Drive, through July 31, 2032; annual rental cost of $420,900 plus operating expenses, with an annual payment of 50 cents per square foot to fund capital reserves.

The University is expected to pay $202,375 annually in real estate taxes on the leases.

In other business:

At the recommendation of Pitt’s administration, the trustees property and facilities committee voted to increase the limits of the executive vice chancellor’s authority. Trustee bylaws have stipulated since 1995 that the committee had to approve University construction projects costing more than $1 million and property transactions in excess of $500,000. At the Oct. 3 meeting, the committee approved a resolution doubling those amounts to $2 million and $1 million, respectively, pending action by the full board.

Cochran explained, “Since the early and mid-’90s, the administration was permitted [to approve] real property projects of $500,000 or less without trustee committee approval, and undertake construction projects at $1 million or less without trustee committee approval. Due to inflationary increases in both the construction industry and the value of real property in Oakland, we’re recommending that those limits be doubled.”

The resolution passed unanimously. The full board next meets Oct. 28.

—Peter Hart