BlackSwan Zine

Carnegie Mellon University is developing new student housing near its campus on the busy Oakland corner of Fifth Avenue and Neville Street.

In late May, the university bought the four-story building at 4700 Fifth Avenue that had been operating as Forbes Hospice. Carnegie Mellon paid $7.5 million for the building to the West Penn Allegheny Health System and the Residence on Fifth and plans to convert the building for use as undergraduate housing for 93 students in the upcoming fall.

“It presented a natural fit for the university, as we already have many students who live near the building and are actively engaged in the community,” said Michael Murphy, vice president for Campus Affairs, in a prepared statement.

The university expected to increase the capacity of the building for fall 2011 and is seeking a zoning variance that would change the building from Multi-family Residential High Density to Multi-family Residential Very High Density. A zoning hearing on the proposal is scheduled for July 20, according to public signs posted around the property.

The university also leases space from the nearby Fairfax Apartments, Webster Hall and Shady Oak Apartments for nearly 750 students.

West Penn Allegheny announced in late April that it was moving its hospice facility from the Oakland site into The Western Pennsylvania Hospital in Bloomfield on a temporary basis at the end of May as it works to decide on a new permanent location.

News of the conversion of the Forbes Hospice to new student housing for Carnegie Mellon comes as the West Penn Allegheny Health System announced this week that it will be consolidating many of the major functions out its Bloomfield hospital, with a potential loss of 1,500 jobs.

[pittsburgh.bizjournals.com]