The campus of Carnegie Mellon University is expanding after a $252 million project was approved Tuesday by Pittsburgh’s planning commission.
A new 345,000-square-foot building will host researchers and students from the university’s Mellon College of Science and School of Computer Science.
The site — nestled at the corner of Craig Street and Forbes Avenue in the city’s Oakland neighborhood — will also contain a restaurant space, an art museum, nearly 17,000-square-foot public plaza, and a seven-story tower containing labs, offices and other learning and collaborative spaces.
On Tuesday afternoon, the planning commission unanimously approved CMU’s plan, with two abstentions.
The site does not need zoning approval, clearing the way for construction to start. It’s unclear when construction will begin, but university officials have said they hope for the project to be completed by 2027.
The building will be one of the few CMU campus buildings that will be facing Oakland’s business district instead of facing the campus. Bob Reppe, CMU assistant vice president and University architect, said it’s important that people are reminded it will be part of CMU’s campus.
“This is not a corporate office building; this is intended to be a Carnegie Mellon campus building,” he said. “It is made to mimic the brick and style of the campus.”
The facade of the structure closest to the public plaza takes design nods from a thistle — the national flower of Scotland — a nod to the university’s founder Andrew Carnegie and his Scottish heritage.
Reppe said the building is looking to achieve LEED Gold certification, and will include features like a green roof and heat recovery systems.
The site will include 110 parking spaces and 128 spaces for bicycle parking. A station along the bus rapid transit University Line will sit right at the building when completed.
The University of Pittsburgh’s Oakland Task Force provided support for CMU’s plan at Tuesday’s planning commission meeting.
Some commissioners shared concerns about the public plaza, and said they preferred if the restaurant was closer to the plaza’s center.
Commissioner Peter Quintanilla said the structure overall would be a great addition to campus, but worried placing the restaurant at the edge of the plaza will make it less inviting to the public.
Reppe said the restaurant will still have about 10 to 12 outdoor tables in the plaza He added the university wants the plaza to serve as gateway to the arts, in combination with its close proximity to the Carnegie Museums building next door.
He also said the public plaza provides a chance for the university to improve pedestrian access, including widening the south sidewalk on the Forbes Avenue bridge that crosses over Neville Street.
The university also is working with the city on possibly building a sidewalk along Boundary Street below the development to improve access to the Junction Hollow Trail.
Ryan Deto is a TribLive reporter covering politics, Pittsburgh and Allegheny County news. A native of California’s Bay Area, he joined the Trib in 2022 after spending more than six years covering Pittsburgh at the Pittsburgh City Paper, including serving as managing editor. He can be reached at rdeto@triblive.com.