New details and renderings of the BioForge facility at Hazelwood Green were unveiled July 11 at a Hazelwood Development Activities Meeting.
“The architecture of the new BioForge facility … strives to physically manifest the exciting, regionally transformative program it contains — biomanufacturing of cell and gene therapies,” said Gina Bleck, Pitt’s vice chancellor for planning, design and construction. “The exterior invites visual access to the science, and the entry element acts as a welcoming lantern to guide pedestrians into the building, a new icon for Pitt and the Pittsburgh region.”
The two-story building will be 68 feel tall with 185,000 square feet of space, and will seek LEED Gold certification. It will have bike parking, two pocket parks along the exterior and space for public art, which will be coordinated with the Hazelwood neighborhood.
On June 12, the Board of Trustees Property and Facilities Committee approved $120 million to build the “core and shell” of BioForge. The committee also gave approval for the University to negotiate a lease with ElevateBio Base Camp Inc., for 74 percent of that space. The committee voted to reimburse ElevateBio up to $122 million for the costs of outfitting the space. The terms of the lease with ElevateBio are still being negotiated.
The other 26 percent of BioForge will be for a Manufacturing Institute, which the University’s School of Medicine is in the process of creating. It will focus on advancing cell and gene therapy manufacturing processes.
BioForge is expected to generate hundreds of jobs, including in construction, off-site support and at the Manufacturing Institute run by the School of Medicine. ElevateBio anticipates having 170 full-time positions — half of them requiring trade-school or community-college level certification/education.
Site prep is expected to start in late fall 2023; building foundations in the first half 2024; steel construction the second half of 2024; and exterior completion in the first half of 2025.
— Susan Jones
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