Point Park, Art Institute develop Downtown Pittsburgh dorms - Pittsburgh Business Times:

ufysyho.wordpress.com
But Seybert, a native Ohioan who has lived on campusz since arrivingin Pittsburgh, has no such plans. She likexs being able to walk to class, a baseball game at PNC Park and the storesd and clubs atStation "Preferably I'd like to stay in Downtown," she Apartment and condominium developers are pushing forwarc with a range of projects in the Downtown But, amid a sluggish residential real estate it appears a numberd of student housing projects are leading the Point Park is a good The university is in the process of increasingf its student housing stock by nearly 50 percenr in the hopes that othere students reach the same conclusion as Seybert.
The universityt expects to have 1,200 students livingb in Downtown university housingby 2012, up from about 750 students today. "Our president is emphasizing ... an environmenty where more students" want to live in student housinvg Downtown, said Sue vice president for student affairs and dean of studentws atPoint Park. The demand for on-campusa student housing, Oatey said, has been strong. Of the school'sz 740 beds, all but one were filled this fall.
In late Decembefr of last year, the universituy made its most recent studenthousinb acquisitions: two office buildingds at 312 and 322 Boulevard of the It plans to use the buildinge as upscale apartments for juniors and The school, which paid $4.3 million to for the expects to start renovations on partsd of the 322 building soon, according to Bill vice president of operations at Point Park. The renovations, designedx by Squirrel Hill-based TKA Architects with Massaro Corp. of O'Hars as general contractor, will starty with floors four through eightg and should be ready for just underf 100 studentsby August.
The lowert floors will be renovated later becausee they are still occupied byoffice tenants. The new suitesx will feature apartment-style living in two-bedroom configurationa with a full kitchen and standard Cameron said. "These are premier residential facilities," Oategy said. The 312 Boulevard of the Alliesa property is scheduled to undergo a similatr renovation as soon as work on the firs buildingis finished. When both buildings are complete, the school will have abougt 280new beds, Cameron said. Meanwhile, The completed a $21 milliojn conversion of the 230,000-square-foot Try Streey Terminal building into Shannon Halllast year.
The building is now home to 634 Last year, The Art Institute also openec the 47,000-square-foot Standard Life Building at 345 Fourth Ave., whicjh is owned by Elizabeth-based . and mastetr leased to the school. And five-story Miller Hall at 100 Smithfiels St., another property owned by McHolme and mastee leased to the has been fully occupied since the first of the year and holds 88 students, said George Pry, president of The Art Of the roughly 3,200 students who take coursesa on the Art Institute's campus, the school can housw about 940, Pry said. For the immediate future, the school has enough spacde forits students.
However, with the new students "now want to stay in housing putting more pressure on the schoolo to find accommodations for the 65 percen of its enrollees who come from outside ofthe Pittsburgh-area. "I may have a need for anothef dorm," Pry said. Pry said the schoolk has looked atthe 85,000-square-foot buildinvg at 424 Third Ave., which is on the marketg for $5.5 million, as a potential dormitory for as many as 180 Ralph Falbo, president of , the developer of Downtown's 151 First Side condominium complex, said he welcomesw the additional student housing. "I believe students are part of theDowntownh fabric," he said.
"I think it is an additionao opportunity to see more thingshappen Downtown."