The Pittsburgh Planning Commission on Tuesday unanimously approved plans for a new, $68 million health sciences building for Duquesne University.
Situated at the corner of Forbes Avenue and Magee Street, the five-floor, 80,000-square-foot John G. Rangos Sr. School of Health Sciences building will include classrooms, labs, office space and clinics on the ground floor.
Rod Dobish, associate vice president and chief facilities officer for the university, said the project will be “the capstone” of the school’s initiatives along that stretch of Forbes Avenue. The span also is home to Duquesne’s Nasuti College of Osteopathic Medicine, which opened in 2024.
The structure will replace an existing school of health sciences building that Duquesne has outgrown, Dobish said.
The new health sciences building will offer simulated hospital and home-based care settings, physical therapy labs and other amenities, officials told commissioners Tuesday.
According to a presentation given to commissioners, the new building will allow Duquesne University to grow existing programs and launch new ones in a state-of-art facility.
“I think it’s a great project,” Commissioner Steve Mazza said. “It looks really good to me.”
University officials unveiled plans for the new facility in December. They expect it to open in fall 2028.
Degree programs housed there will include physical therapy, occupational therapy, athletic training, public health, health administration, physician assistant studies and speech-language pathology. It will offer street-level clinical spaces, like Duquesne’s Speech-Language Hearing Clinic, which sees about 5,000 visits each year.