12-year plan details renovation projects, new construction

When Pitt looked into the future 10 years ago, it never knew the Petersen Events Center… When Pitt looked into the future 10 years ago, it never knew the Petersen Events Center would replace Pitt Stadium.

But during the course of an intensive construction plan for updating campus facilities, Heinz Stadium sprung to life on the North Shore, the idea for turning the O.C. lot into a basketball facility vanished and the need to renovate Pitt Stadium became the possibility of building the Petersen Events Center.

Pitt recently ended that 10-year construction plan and has now developed new goals for the future.

University administrators announced a $1 billion plan this year, foreseeing construction projects until 2018 that will renovate existing buildings and construct new buildings across main campus and at all five Pitt branch campuses.

Robert Pack, vice provost for academic planning and resources management, said the plan focuses primarily on renovating existing buildings rather than breaking ground for new structures. But the estimated costs and renovations to be completed are in fact minimal, and changes in ideas, costs and funding will evolve as time goes on, he said.

For now, a building added to Salk Hall will be the only new academic building foreseen in the project. This will cost about $45 million.

Outside of the immediate work on Salk Hall and the William Pitt Union, the University plans to address academic needs with the 12-year plan, including problems in research laboratories and classrooms.

Pack said Benedum Hall and the physics and science buildings on O’Hara Street are high priorities and require major renovations.

The facilities will be gutted on the inside and reconstructed so that classes, offices and labs in the building will be more efficiently located. More than $100 million total will go to these two projects.

The largest chunk of change for one project goes to the Clapp/Langley/Crawford building complex, with $72.5 million projected to renovate heating, cooling and ventilation systems in the buildings.

Some funding for the major renovation projects will come from the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Pitt will receive $240 million total, or $20 million per year, for capital funding of the projects.

The projects should also attract donors to name buildings and facilities, generating more revenue.

The rest will come from the University, and will be absorbed into Pitt’s debt capacity or borrowed from the state.

Additionally, Pitt will upgrade athletic programs by finding new on-campus facilities for some varsity teams in need of new homes, Pack said. Track and soccer play at Trees Field and have no on-campus venues for competition.

The long-term nature of the facilities renovation plans will not allow students with four-year undergraduate careers to witness immediate results, Pack said, aside from needed year-to-year building updates.

Renovations must be made to campus facilities each year so they remain up to code and keep Pitt competitive.

While Pitt will renovate HVAC systems in campus buildings to follow regulations, reorganizing the infrastructures of buildings will better academic programs.

Pack said attracting quality students to the campus is a driving force behind the 12-year plan.

“Faculty want better students, students want better faculty,” he said.

Also, Pack said the plans address the “quality of life” of students by updating residence halls, dining halls and recreation spaces.

The most noticeable immediate renovation of this type is the current work on the William Pitt Union.

For months this summer, debris littered the hallways of three floors in the building, with remnants of age-old tile floors leading the pathway down orange paint-striped walls that now are no more.

Three renovations gutted the sixth, eighth and basement levels of the Union this summer, bringing new offices and a revamped gaming-and-gathering center to students and student organizations.

The basement of the Union – which previously boasted a student lounge and food services, including a Freshens smoothie shop, a Pizza Hut Express, a sub shop and an eating area – will include a new student recreation area with electronic games and a non-alcoholic bar this fall, according to University spokesman John Fedele.

Seven stories up from the basement construction work, the sixth floor became Pitt’s new cross-cultural and leadership center.

This area will host conference rooms and offices for University cross-cultural programs and will hold leadership-training rooms.

It formerly was the stomping grounds of various Pitt student organizations, such as the Student Government Board, Rainbow Alliance, Campus Women’s Organization and Black Action Society.

On the eighth floor, student government officers and advisers will find a new home alongside the study abroad office complex.

The rooms and hallways vacated by Pitt’s former Semester at Sea office will be turned into offices for SGB, the College of General Studies Student Cabinet and other graduate and professional student organizations.

This project alone totals almost $3 million, with most of the funds coming from the yearly Provost budget and from Student Affairs.

However, some of the funding for this construction will come directly from students who pay fees to use the services, Pack said.

When asked to address the rising tuition costs associated with added fees and University spending, he said, “We look carefully at tuition, and it is quality vs. cost.”

“There’s a reason why Pitt is more expensive than other schools. It is an investment in a high-quality education,” he said.

Although Pack said he did not know the amount Pitt gives in aid to students each year, he added, “Every time we raise tuition, we divert a lot of money to financial aid. It is a priority of the capital campaign.”

The capital campaign solicits alumni and friends for donations and gifts to the University. Donors have given more than $1 billion to the campaign, and its goal presently stands at $2 billion.

As of January 2007, endowments funded through the capital campaign included the development of 373 new scholarships and fellowships and 88 new faculty chairs and professorships.

“When this is over, the University will be in a better place than it is now. The process of improvement is continuous,” Pack said.