'A catalyst of Renaissance 3': Point Park unveils plan for Downtown community events center
By Mark Belko / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Point Park University unveiled plans Thursday for the development of a community events center in Downtown that would host athletic competitions and concerts while serving as a training ground for students.
University President Chris Brussalis detailed the proposal after a panel discussion that looked at the college’s role in shaping the future of the Golden Triangle.
“We feel that Point Park can be a catalyst of Renaissance 3 in Pittsburgh,” he said afterward.
The events venue is a variation of a student and convocation center that Point Park has had on the drawing board for years. It originally was part of the $244 million academic village initiative the university launched nearly two decades ago.
Mr. Brussalis said the cost of the new events center, still in the conceptual stage, is estimated at $80 million to $100 million. The college is considering four to five sites for the venue, although Mr. Brussalis would not provide exact locations on most.
“They’re in and around our campus,” he said.
Point Park had been considering a parking lot it owns at 340 Boulevard of the Allies for the student and convocation center. It is located next to a former YMCA that now serves as a university student hub.
Mr. Brussalis said the parking lot, which also is located next to a city fire station, is still under consideration.
The proposal is being advanced as Point Park moves up to NCAA Division II competition in athletics after spending much of its existence in the NAIA. The university has long lacked an on-campus sports venue, with all of its games played at off-campus sites.
But during Thursday’s unveiling, Mr. Brussalis and Ted Black, Point Park’s senior vice president of institutional advancement and strategy, stressed that the center would be much more than an athletic facility.
With concerts and other live events to be programmed, the goal is to also use it as a training ground for students to learn about stage rigging, concert setups, and other crafts or skills needed for careers after graduation.
The concept, they said, is similar to the Pittsburgh Playhouse, the $60 million venue Point Park opened in 2018 on Forbes Avenue. That complex not only includes three stages, it also features prop and costume shops, a sound stage, and other facilities that give students practical experience for potential jobs.
“Like the Pittsburgh Playhouse, this community events center will offer hands-on experience in a cutting-edge environment preparing our students for the evolving demands of the entertainment industry,” Mr. Brussalis said.
“By investing in a learning laboratory like this community events center, we’re not just educating students. We’re shaping the future leaders of the creative industries in making Pittsburgh the global leader in educating, training and employing the future workers and leaders.”
The center is expected to seat about 2,000 people and total about 85,000 square feet in all.
Mr. Brussalis said Thursday’s announcement represented the starting point in the planning and community discussions for the venture. He expects it to be funded through a combination of public, foundation and university resources similar to the playhouse.
“This 2,000-seat facility will be a beacon for students, the region, and the country, a place to learn and master all the aspects of large live events that are shaping the future of the creative economy,” he said.
The university also hopes to make the venue available to the community and for youth events, although such details are far from being finalized.
“For this to be realistic, it needs to be a community asset,” spokesman Lou Corsaro said.
John Valentine, the executive director of the Downtown Neighbors Alliance community group who attended Thursday’s presentation, said he supports the initiative.
“That means there’s more activity Downtown. That means you have the domino effect of restaurants having more business,” he said. “I think it’s all good. I don’t see any downside.”
Point Park unveiled the plan the same day the Urban Land Institute made its final recommendations on ways to help the university play a bigger role in shaping the future of Downtown.
With construction of the playhouse, a new park at the Boulevard of the Allies and Wood Street, and other property acquisitions, the university has helped in reshaping the heart of the Golden Triangle over the past two decades.
As part of its recommendations, ULI suggested better campus branding, finding ways to enliven the Boulevard of the Allies and better connect it to the campus on both sides, and doing the same with the Monongahela riverfront on the Downtown shore, an area now dominated by the Mon Wharf.
One of the more interesting aspects of the panel discussion that accompanied the final recommendations was the idea of using some of the failing Downtown office buildings as a hub for student housing.
With the bus rapid transit line between Downtown and Oakland taking shape, such an initiative not only could involve Point Park but the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University, panelists suggested.
“I think it might be the thing that saves some of these buildings,” said Dennis Davin, senior vice president of the Jones Lang LaSalle real estate firm and former secretary of the state Department of Community and Economic Development.
About 3,600 students currently are enrolled at Point Park. The university is hoping to add another 2,000 students over time.
Mr. Brussalis said Point Park is willing to do its part to try to cultivate more housing. He noted that the central business district could be a good spot for housing for graduate students, for instance.
“We’re willing to take a lead, be a partner — I mean, all of the above. We’re obviously stepping out. We’re trying to be a catalyst in all of this,” he said.
“We’re a younger, scrappier university. We don’t have the resources of like a Carnegie Mellon. So we have to leverage. It’s all about collaboration and leverage. ... That’s how we’re going to get things done.”