Pitt has plans for new dormitory

Pitt plans to open a new residence hall by fall 2013 that will hold 578 freshmen.

Pitt… Pitt plans to open a new residence hall by fall 2013 that will hold 578 freshmen.

Pitt spokesman John Fedele said in an email today that the dorm will have doubles and some triples. Pitt submitted plans for the dormitory to the city Zoning Board of Adjustment, which approves variances from the zoning code, and the project will also require approval by Pitt’s Board of Trustees.

Plans for the building submitted to the city showed the dormitory would be at 121 University Place, across from the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall near the University Club. The site is currently a University-owned office building.

The plans will go before the Zoning Board of Adjustment on March 10, according to the city’s website.

The announcement comes after several dozen freshmen were housed off campus at the Wyndham Hotel in Oakland and at Carlow University this year. The University has also housed freshmen in lounges for the past two years in Litchfield Towers and Lothrop Hall.

Pitt is still planning the design of the new dormitory, Fedele said. He said that the the costs of the dormitory are not finalized yet, and the plans will go before the Board of Trustees’ Property and Facilities Management Committee, likely in April.

Fedele said that the dormitory is part of a long-term plan to house almost 50 percent of the University’s roughly 17,000 full-time undergraduate students. That is up from about 5,500 on campus in 1998.

“One of [the] basic principles of our housing strategy is to provide attractive and suitable housing on-campus in sufficient numbers to enable the University to recruit and retain a talented and diverse undergraduate student body,” Fedele said. “And as such, we do consistently monitor demand and the adequacy of the housing that we offer to our students.”