CMU airs 10-year master plan
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Carnegie Mellon University wants to construct a new home for its Tepper business school, expand Heinz College and undertake other campus work that includes turning two Forbes Avenue traffic lanes into bicycle paths.
Those are some of the projects in a proposed 10-year university master plan that campus administrators are preparing to submit later this month to the city.
Campus officials for months have been meeting with neighborhood groups and others who would be affected by the varied projects. Late Wednesday, Bob Reppe, the school's director of design, held a campus briefing for students, employees and others.
Specific dollar estimates for the individual projects have not been developed. But the work, if fully realized, likely would involve tens of millions of dollars of new construction and enhancements ranging from an expanded University Center and a new hotel on school land to a pedestrian bridge.
The plan will be reviewed by both the city planning commission and city council. The work proposed for the part of Forbes that cuts through campus requires review by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, because it's a state road.
The master plan is aimed at supporting university growth by both enhancing the existing core campus and by developing underutilized properties purchased by Carnegie Mellon along Forbes between Craig Street and Morewood Avenue, Mr. Reppe said.
The plan also recognizes that Carnegie Mellon's northern frontier, traditionally considered to be Forbes, has in fact become Fifth Avenue, thanks to university expansion, and that Forbes runs through what is now the middle of campus.
Individual projects will be staged as enrollment and program needs warrant. "All of these are contingent upon funding becoming available," Mr. Reppe said.
Specific dollar sources for the projects were not discussed at Wednesday's session. Carnegie Mellon is in the second half of $1 billion fundraising campaign.
Among the projects that Mr. Reppe said were deemed to be high institutional priorities are:
First Published March 3, 2011 12:00 am
