The Property and Facilities Committee of Pitt’s Board of Trustees approved $37 million for two renovation projects and several million more for three building leases.

The committee includes 13 members of the Board of Trustees, 11 of which held a conference call Thursday afternoon to approve the funding. The committee approved funding to renovate Parran and Crabtree Halls, the Department of Chemistry in Eberly Hall and three leases in various locations. 

The Graduate School for Public Health’s reserve will fund the Parran and Crabtree Hall renovations, the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences reserve will fund the Eberly Hall renovations and the University’s operating expenses will fund the leases. Chancellor Patrick Gallagher, though not a part of the committee, also participated in the conference call. 

As part of the University’s 12-year facilities plan, which began in 2007, the renovations to Parran and Crabtree Halls — located along Fifth Avenue — are meant to keep the buildings up to date. The renovations will include upgrades to the mechanical, plumbing and electrical systems; new fire alarm and sprinkler systems; a new security system and upgrades to restrooms to make them compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, the University said in a release. 

Specifically, this will include building wheelchair ramps, installing wider doors and creating wider bathroom stalls, Ken Service, vice chancellor for communications, said. The University will spend $34 millionof the $37 million approved on this project, the release said. 

The second renovation project will upgrade the laboratories in Eberly Hall. These upgrades will include building a sensor-testing laboratory for research on carbon nanomaterials, doubling the current space available. The remaining $3 million approved will go towards this project, the release said. 

Starting July 1, the University will renew its lease with UPMC Shadyside for space at the Hillman Cancer Center where Pitt conducts some of its research. The lease is for five years, until June 2020, the board of trustees resolution said, and rent starts at $9,071,618 per year but will increase by 1 percent annually.

Fourteen days later, the University will also begin leasing space from Cityview Properties, LLC at the Parkvale Annex Building on Forbes Avenue for five years and sixteen days, until July 2020. The annual rental will be $141,520 plus a reimbursement for part of the real estate taxes on the building. This lease will also include a five-year renewal option that Pitt will be able to act on in 2020. 

At the end of 2015,  Pitt will also lease the Energy Innovation Center, located on Bedford Avenue in the Hill District, for 15 years. The EIC will become home to the Energy Storage Technology Laboratory, the Electric Power Technology Laboratory, the High Temperature Corrosion Laboratory, and the Pitt Incubator Laboratories. Pitt will lease the EIC for $311,550 annually for the first five years, $326,988 annually for the second five years, and $343,170 for the final five years. 

These new laboratories, the release said, “are expected to foster collaborations between the University and industry.” Service cited former Steeler Charlie Batch’s recent partnership with Pitt as an example. In January, Batch and several partners, in collaboration with Pitt’s Innovation Institute, announced the sports medicine startup Impellia to commercialize some of Pitt’s research.

“That’s a good example of our research being able to be commercialized,” Service said.