Pitt’s planned housing for medical students, as it will look from Darragh Street.

The Property and Facilities Committee of Pitt’s Board of Trustees on April 10 approved construction of new housing on Darragh Street for medical students as part of a package of construction and renovation projects totaling more than $62 million.

These projects are expected to create 140 on-site construction jobs, as well as 137 off-site support jobs, adding more than $100,000 in Pittsburgh business privilege taxes to the City of Pittsburgh, said committee chair John Pelusi Jr. In addition, leases approved by the committee will contribute $310,000 in local real estate taxes this year, Pelusi said.

The $18.2 million Darragh Street project, which will be located across from Salk Hall and the Fitzgerald Field House, will accommodate 184 students in four buildings upon its completion in the summer of 2007; it will include parking for 52 cars. The four-story buildings will consist of one- and two-bedroom apartments and be similar in nature to the Bouquet Gardens residence halls.

The trustees committee also approved $22.2 million for upgrades, maintenance, and creation of a 27,000-square-foot mezzanine section for Benedum Hall, which houses the University's School of Engineering. This project will allow for the reorganization of engineering programs and the creation of new, state-of-the-art classroom and laboratory facilities.

Among other renovation and upgrading projects approved at last week’s meeting were:

• A $4.1 million renovation of the Litchfield Towers Plaza. Renovations will include the installation of two skylights in the plaza near Tower C, waterproofing, new drainage systems, new handrails, and additional seating and planting areas;

• The $8,385,860 construction of an 8,000 square-foot-addition and renovations to the Plum Borough Research Center. The renovations will include improvements to the mechanical, telecommunications, and security systems, as well as a building automation system with an uninterrupted power supply;

• Replacement of 10 existing escalators in Scaife Hall from floors two through six, including the mezzanine, at a cost of $2,500,000. The escalators now in use are original to the building, which was constructed in 1954, and have exceeded their expected service lives;

• New steam and condensate lines connecting the west end of the Pitt campus with the west end of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Hospitals, at a cost of $5,500,000; and

• A new emergency generator installation for the Schenley Quadrangle buildings at a cost of $1,347,620.

Other projects approved at last week's meeting include the following:

• A sublease of 9,670 square feet on the fifth floor of the Cellomics Building in the Pittsburgh Technology Center for the Center for Craniofacial and Dental Genetics in the School of Dental Medicine. The center has occupied that space for the past three years. The lease is for the period of May 1, 2006, through June 2011 at an average rental cost of $269,116;

• A sublease of 5,064 square feet on the fifth floor of the Pittsburgh Technology Center’s Cellomics Building for laboratory and office space for the Molecular Medical Institute. The sublease runs from May 1, 2006, through June 15, 2011, at an average rental cost of $140,931.12, and contains an option to continue occupancy through July 31, 2016;

• A five-year lease for 45,848 square feet of space in the RIDC Park Research Center for Pitt medical school neurophysics and vaccine researchers. The lease will expire on Dec. 31, 2010, but includes a five-year option;

• A lease renewal for the Hillman Cancer Center with UPMC Presbyterian Shadyside at 5230 Centre Ave. for five years at an annual rental of $8,466,396. The lease will expire on June 30, 2010, but includes a five-year option.