Trustees vote to build Bio Tower

At the fall meeting of Pitt’s Board of Trustees Thursday, the Board unanimously approved to… At the fall meeting of Pitt’s Board of Trustees Thursday, the Board unanimously approved to amend the 2003 budget to include the beginning stages of a $188 million Biomedical Science Tower, also known as BST3.

The Property and Facilities Committee, which is responsible for property transactions with a price above $500,000, gave a report on the tower, which included concrete annual figures.

Trustee John Pelusi Jr., from the Property and Facilities Committee, said the building will cost $9.4 million in annual upkeep. Of that amount, only $4.2 million is actual operating costs. The remaining amount goes to help the $80 million in debt financing used to fund the project.

In addition to that $80 million, the BST3 will also receive $62 million in gift funds, $45,371,000 in university funds and $629,000 in state allocations.

Pitt will only spend $770,000 on the tower this fiscal year, though next year’s budget – if approved – will allocate $13,555,500 in 2003, $47,720,500 in 2004, $84,720,500 in 2005 and $41,233,500 in 2006, the fiscal year by which the tower is expected to be completed.

“We don’t build buildings for the sake of building,” Nordenberg said, adding that this tower will help increase local education and research and help make Pitt a world-class university.