By SUSAN JONES
In November, Carolyn Verga, assistant vice chancellor for campus planning, said the updated Campus Master Plan idea gaining the most momentum was a 400-bed residence hall that would wrap around the Music Building at Fifth and Ruskin avenues, where there’s now a parking lot.
Now that plan is starting to take even more shape.
A University spokesman said Pitt is interviewing design-build teams, and eventually a committee of University leaders and students will review designs.
“I think why that’s gaining some momentum is it’s probably the easiest site to work with because it’s a parking lot,” Verga said in November. “We don’t have to tear anything down. We don’t have a lot of enabling projects associated with it, and that’s a building we might be able to get up sooner than some of the other ideas that we have.”
The project also was included in the 30-year Campus Master Plan that Pitt debuted in 2018 and has gone through the Institutional Master Plan process with the city.
The proposed traditional-style residence hall on the Ruskin parking lot will be for first-year students and, although the design phase has not yet begun, tentative plans call for distributed rather than communal bathrooms with private restrooms and showers off the public corridors. A dining area also is proposed for the first floor.
The residence hall will have housing options for Frederick Honors College students and other Honors College amenities, such as a faculty-in-residence apartment, office and study rooms.
Final selection of a design company is expected this spring. The project is expected to be voted on by the Board of Trustees in May, and if approved, work will start shortly after that and be completed in summer 2028.
Parking issues
A Pitt spokesman said that because the new building would eliminate the 56-spot Ruskin parking lot, the University is evaluating parking needs and options as part of the project planning process and Campus Master Plan.
“The University’s parking planning must comply with the University of Pittsburgh’s Institutional Master Plan, our agreement with the city that establishes specific parameters for campus (zoning) requirements,” the spokesman said. “The University is working within these guidelines to identify University-owned, appropriately zoned sites that can accommodate future parking needs.”
In addition, the University intends to increase bicycle commuting options, in light of the upcoming two-way bicycle track on Fifth Avenue, which will replace the bus counterflow lane.
Plan for Pitt goals
The final draft of the updated Campus Master Plan was released in November and presented to the Board of Trustees in December. The updated plan is designed to reflect new, post-pandemic realities and to align with the Plan for Pitt 2028. It puts the greatest emphasis on student housing, to align with the Plan for Pitt’s goal of increasing undergraduate enrollment on the Oakland campus by nearly 2,000 by 2028.
The large incoming, first-year class in fall 2025 — nearly 1,000 more than fall 2024 — has made the need for housing more acute.
Gina Bleck, vice chancellor for planning, design and construction, said the Campus Master Plan steering committee put student housing and conversion of the Pittsburgh Athletic Association building as its top priorities.
The plan includes several other possible housing projects, including a fourth Litchfield Tower, replacing Bouquet Gardens with taller, more densely populated buildings and converting the upper floors of the William Pitt Union into housing.
Susan Jones is editor of the University Times. Reach her at suejones@pitt.edu or 724-244-4042.
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