Housing for foreign high school students could be coming to Oakmont

The former site of the Oakmont Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation could become a student housing center for private school students from Europe and Asia.

A petition to obtain a special exemption to use the property as dormitory-style housing for high school students was passed in a 2-0 vote by the Oakmont Zoning Hearing Board during a public hearing Tuesday night.

Board members Joseph Luciana and Charles Fisher heard testimony from Mathein Jiang, owner of PA Academy LLC. Jiang said he wants to turn the building into a dorm to house high school students primarily from Europe and Asia while they attend local private schools.

He purchased the property in January, according to his attorney, Marissa Levin. The property has sat vacant since the nursing home closed in 2021.

“The property structure, the layout — everything, is not going to be changed at all, from what it was,” Levin said. “And honestly, the use is not going to be changed too much, either.”

She said the nursing home was a full-time living facility, and the students would be using the property in the same way.

Jiang said he has a similar facility in Donora that he opened in 2022 under Future iService LLC. Jiang said the company owns similar facilities in Wisconsin and New York.

“I love this area,” he said. “That’s why we plan to expand our business in the greater Pittsburgh area.”

Jiang, who 22 years of experience in education, plans to house 15 students during the upcoming school year.

The international students already have been accepted to three local Catholic private schools, Levin said. There will be eight students attending Seton-La Salle in Mt. Lebanon, three at St. Joseph in Natrona Heights, Harrison, and four at North Catholic in Cranberry.

North Catholic confirmed international students would be attending next year but denied to comment further on PA Academy LLC. St. Joseph and Seton-La Salle did not respond to requests for comment.

Jiang said he has made verbal agreements for busing with the schools.

The building has 32 units for students, and each has its own bathroom. The building has a total of about 45 rooms, Jiang said.

The students would live in the facility full time during the school year.

He said the only changes that would be made to the building would be repainting and adding the name on the exterior. The facility would not be open to the public.

“The building will be closed during summer break … and for two weeks during winter break,” Jiang said.

He said students would be inside by 10 p.m. each night, and staff would be living at the facility with the students to feed and monitor them.

“After (students) get back from school, usually they will stay in the dorm for their homework. They may discuss their homework together, or some have after-school activities, but we’ll never allow the students to have parties there,” Jiang said when asked about possible noise.

The students would not be allowed to have cars, and the plans would have minimal effect on the borough’s traffic patterns, he said.

The only cars on-site would be for staff. Three buses would pick up and drop off students at the dorm.

Any students who violate rules in the dorm, including smoking or drinking, or any criminal activity in the community, would be asked to leave the dorm and would be sent back to their home country.

“Zero tolerance,” Jiang said.