Planning Commission approves UPMC plans for old Children’s Hospital

The City Planning Commission approved UPMC’s plans to demolish the old Children’s… The City Planning Commission approved UPMC’s plans to demolish the old Children’s Hospital building at a meeting last week.

UPMC plans to begin demolishing the building — the DeSoto Building at 3705 Fifth Ave. — on May 1. Landscaping will begin Oct. 1 and run through Nov. 15, according to a PowerPoint presentation given to the commission.

The demolition is part of an effort by UPMC to restructure its Oakland campus, which should take three to five years.

The hospital will only demolish part of the building. The two-acre section UPMC plans to demolish will be converted into a small field and maintained by UPMC.

In the March 30 meeting, the commission set a target for UPMC to decide whether the intent of the project is to encourage or discourage use of the lawn by the public. It also suggested the addition of trees along DeSoto Street, the reuse of trees that are removed and the protection of existing trees during demolition.

According to the city zoning administrator’s office, the landscaping portion of the plan will be reviewed by an urban forester before the zoning administrator can approve it. This does not effect UPMC’s acquisition of a permit for demolition.