A trustees panel at the University of Pittsburgh today approved several building and renovation projects, the biggest of which is a $28.2 million enlargement and renovation of the astronomy and physics department's laboratories.

The "mid-campus complex renovations, phase 2" encompasses 13 new or renovated labs in Allen Hall, Old Engineering Hall and the Nuclear Physics Laboratory.

The work approved by the trustees' property and facilities committee will enable Pitt to offer better facilities for the its nanoscience and technology initiative, officials said.

The mid-campus project is being aided by $15 million in federal economic stimulus money. That infusion quickened the project's pace "probably by a year," said Executive Vice Chancellor Jerome Cochran.

In all, the property and facilities committee authorized a total of $46 million in building and renovation work and leases.

The spending will touch both Pitt's main campus and its Greensburg and Bradford branches and projects will range from academic to student life to housing.

First Published: February 24, 2010, 5:45 p.m.