Saint Vincent College projects building sustainability

It was a day of celebration for Saint Vincent College on Friday, with a ceremonial groundbreaking for two building projects and a topping-off ceremony for its new $20 million athletic facility.

A watchword for the ceremonies that drew more than 120 people to celebrate the pending construction of the two buildings — one for its new nursing program and the other for a library tower — was sustainability for the educational institution.

With Pittsburgh Steelers President Art Rooney II in the audience in his role as chair of the college’s board of trustees, the Rev. Paul Taylor, president of Saint Vincent, assured Rooney and the audience filled with Steelers fans that no construction will begin until after the Steelers break training camp Aug. 13.

Rooney joked that the new Rhodora and John Donahue Hall for Nursing will have a view of the hot tubs and cold water tubs that the Steelers will set up for its players during training camp.

“It will be quite a sight,” the Steelers owner said.

In addition to the new construction, the college is overseeing the construction of a multi-purpose athletic and recreational facility on the campus in Unity.

This growth at the college will help to create an engaging college experience, Taylor said.

The college plans to house its nursing school in the three-story Donahue Hall for Nursing, which will be adjacent to the Sis and Herman Dupre Science Pavilion. That project could be done late in 2026 or early in 2027.

“This forward-thinking nursing curriculum will be supported with the latest technology inking initiative virtual reality and AI technology for our nurses,” Taylor said.

The college’s nursing school, which previously was a partnership with Carlow College, began accepting students in the fall.

Saint Vincent also is making an adaptive reuse of the college’s brick water tower that supplied the campus with water up until 1974. It also is known as the Sauerkraut Tower where the monks and nuns fermented their cabbage for decades, Taylor said. A three-story building will be constructed to house an elevator for access to the new Library Tower.

“In that space, we will have three stories of special collections of art, art history, architecture, theology, philosophy and study areas and displays for our history,” Taylor said of the $3.5 million project.

The college also had a topping-off ceremony for the new $20 million Dunlap Family Athletic and Recreation Center, an 82,000-square foot indoor complex for which Turner Construction Co. of Pittsburgh has erected the steel frame for the structure adjacent to the Fred M. Rogers Center.

It will have fields that can be used for multiple sports such as football, soccer and lacrosse and two basketball courts, as well as supporting intramural athletic competition and practices for the varsity teams.

The project, which started last year, is expected to be completed by the end of 2026.

Funding for the athletic and recreation center came primarily from private donors and a $4.5 million Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program grant from the state.