University Club to be revamped

A Pitt committee approved nine construction and renovation projects totaling $66.86 million… A Pitt committee approved nine construction and renovation projects totaling $66.86 million at a meeting on Dec. 11.

The plans approved by the Property and Facilities Committee of Pitt’s Board of Trustees include $20.2 million in renovations to the University Club, $2.3 million for the construction of a financial analysis laboratory in Mervis Hall and $16.8 million for the expansion of the Mascaro Sustainability Initiative in the Swanson School of Engineering.

At the meeting, two leases and six other technological and mechanical upgrades were also approved.

The University Club is located on University Drive, across the street from Schenley Quad. Pitt purchased the building in May 2005.

Now, Pitt plans on turning the lower floors into a number of different rooms, including a faculty club, conference center and banquet facility, kitchen facility, coffee shop and offices.

The top four floors will be converted into an area that will be leased to Family House, Inc., a non-profit organization that provides housing for the families of patients traveling to Pittsburgh to undergo medical treatment.

Wynne Fedele, Family House’s director of development, said that Pitt will manage the renovations of the building, but that Family House will pay the University for its portion of the construction.

The exact amount is currently being finalized.

The fifth, sixth and seventh floors of the University Club will be converted into guest bedrooms equipped with their own bathrooms, Wynne Fedele said.

The eighth floor – which used to be the University Club’s fitness center – will be converted into a communal space for the Family House residents and will include a kitchen, living room and dining room.

“We have been looking to expand for some time,” Wynne Fedele said. “We have been at a really high occupancy rate for a while.”

This project will be Family House’s fourth location in Pittsburgh – the organization currently has two homes in Oakland and one in Shadyside.

John Fedele, a Pitt spokesman and Wynne Fedele’s husband, said that construction for this project will begin this month, and it is expected to be completed in May 2009.

Pitt plans on building a “Wall Street-type” financial analysis lab in the Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business’ Mervis Hall.

The lab will resemble a financial trading room and will give students the opportunity to train with the same type of equipment used in the capital market industry.

The new lab will include 58 computer stations and will have a raised floor system, lectern, projectors, screens, cameras and plasma TVs.

The $16.8 million expansion of the MSI will connect Benedum Hall and Benedum Auditorium, giving the buildings an extra 32,000 square feet of research space.

Additionally, the committee also approved a number of other renovations or upgrades in Chevron Hall, Langley Hall, Victoria Building and the Old Engineering Hall.