University Times

Under plans currently being studied by the Office of Facilities Management, the Masonic Temple is being considered as the location of both Pitt's new undergraduate College of Business Administration (CBA) and the Katz Graduate School of Business.

Associate Vice Chancellor for Facilities Management Tom Hussey told Senate Council's plant utilization and planning committee (PUP) on Monday, Sept. 11, that housing the two schools in the Masonic Temple is being considered in light of the cost of constructing a new CBA building.

Estimates obtained by administrators set the cost of constructing an 85,000 square foot CBA building on the site of the SB parking lot, located across Bouquet Street from Mervis Hall, home of the Katz Graduate School, at $20 million. Hussey told the University Times that Facilities Management does not yet have an estimate on the cost of renovating the Masonic Temple, but a figure should be available after a feasibility study is completed on Oct. 1.

"It is just in the preliminary study phase," Hussey said. "No decisions have been made. But the central location near the hotel would be good for the graduate school." The Masonic Temple is located at 4227 Fifth Ave., across from the Cathedral of Learning and next to the Holiday Inn and the Pittsburgh Athletic Association.

Although the University purchased the temple from the Masons about two years ago, a lease agreement gives the group priority use of the building through December. About 10,000 square feet of the building's roughly 160,000 square feet is being used by the University as storage and reading rooms for Hillman Library.

Should plans to move CBA and Katz into the temple be approved, Hussey told the University Times, library materials could be moved to the University of Pittsburgh Applied Research Center in Harmarville Township. "That's one possibility," Hussey said. "If that doesn't work, we'll have to identify others." H.J. Zoffer, dean of the Katz Graduate School, said he is aware that a feasibility study is being conducted.

"I think the University is looking at full utilization of all its properties and is exploring as many options as possible," Zoffer said, "but I won't have any comment on it [a possible move to the Masonic Temple] until I see the results of the feasibility study, what the cost is and what the potential is for such a move." Since the move is still in the preliminary study phase, no decisions have been made on any future use of Mervis Hall, current home of the Katz Graduate School. Hussey told PUP: "What Mervis would be used for would be up for grabs." CBA enrolled it first class of students this fall. The students will spend the first two years of the four-year program taking arts and sciences courses in existing Pitt classrooms. Unless new facilities are found for CBA after that, a space crunch is expected. Business school officials had hoped to open a CBA building in fall 1997.

Hussey told the University Times that once the feasibility study on renovation of the temple is completed, Facilities Management will need to identify costs. After that it will take about nine months to complete a set of architectural drawings and another 18 months to two years to do the actual work, according to Hussey.

Also at Monday's PUP meeting:

* Director of Facilities Planning Ana Guzman revealed that plans for construction of an addition to Hillman Library now favor building a high-rise at the rear of the green space between Hillman and Forbes Quad. Plans presented to PUP last year focused on building the addition onto the front of the existing building.

* Hussey said that plans for an $8 million renovation of Bellefield Hall are on hold.

* Bob Harkins, director of the Office of Parking and Transportation, said that a feasibility study is being conducted into building an underground parking garage in Schenley Plaza between Hillman Library and the Carnegie Library. The Pittsburgh City Planning Commission has expressed interest in building such a garage on the site and landscaping the current parking lot. As part of the master space plan approved by the Planning Commission in the spring, Pitt is required to replace any parking spaces lost due to construction of the convocation center on the preferred site next to Pitt Stadium.

–Mike Sajna