Pitt to purchase 2 Oakland properties for $25 million, expanding campus footprint

The University of Pittsburgh is expanding its Oakland campus with the purchase of two properties for more than $25 million.

The first property is at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Halket Street. The second consists of 12 parcels on Bates Street, the Boulevard of the Allies and Zulema Street — which the university collectively refers to as the Bates Street site.

The Board of Trustees’ property and facilities committee on Thursday unanimously approved proposals to purchase both sites.

The school is purchasing both from Pittsburgh-based Walnut Capital.

The site on Fifth Avenue and Halket Street has a buildable footprint of 33,598 square feet, Senior Vice Chancellor for Business and Operations Dave DeJong said during a committee meeting. The City of Pittsburgh approved planned development at the site for a structure of up to 285,000 square feet and 1½ stories of parking.

The site is zoned for a commercial life sciences development. In a resolution about the property’s acquisition, the university identified “a need for near-term expansion in multiple health science programs ideally suited to this location due its adjacency with the University’s research enterprises and UPMC.”

The university also wrote “the proposed location and potential use align with the University’s real estate strategy.”

Pitt will pay $19.5 million for the site.

“The purchase will include land acquisition, site improvements, demolition, entitlements, permits, completed architectural, engineering and traffic plans and studies, excavation, shoring, caissons and structural steel,” DeJong said.

The university will “seek approval for construction of a suitable building” at a future committee meeting, DeJong said.

The Bates Street site, which consists of more than 18,500 square feet, “sits at an important and highly visible juncture for the university,” DeJong said, explaining that “acquisition will enhance a key campus gateway.”

Walnut Capital will demolish a set of condemned townhomes on the site, he said.

Pitt will pay $5.6 million for the land, plus $399,125 in reimbursable costs, demolition expenses and transactional costs for the Bates Street site, DeJong said.

“The University of Pittsburgh has no immediate plans to develop this site,” spokesperson Kevin Zwick said Friday. “Our only immediate plans are for members of our university community — and our neighbors throughout the broader Oakland community — to visit, use and enjoy this new greenspace.”