With all the activity in Oakland surrounding Pitt (and involving Pitt as an occupant), it’s easy to forget that the university itself has been largely quiet as an owner of construction projects. With the exception of DGS-assigned work, Pitt has been less active than normal for more than a decade. That is about to change with its updated campus master plan, which matches more than $1 billion in capital investment to the university’s new priorities.

The first of these major projects, a $90 million student rec center on O’Hara Street, is out for construction management proposals. Pitt is taking proposals from AECOM, Barton Malow, Gilbane, Mascaro, Massaro, PJ Dick, Turner, Whiting-Turner, and Walsh on Nov. 28. The project includes a new parking garage and is being designed by Moody Nolan & Associates.

A similar-sized project, the Human Performance Center, should be ready for RFP in the early part of 2019.  That project is part of a $400 million expansion and improvement to the athletic facilities north of campus, in what will be called Victory Heights.

Other major commercial projects continue to advance. Millcraft Investments has narrowed the field to Clark Construction and Massaro/Yates for its $300 million Esplanade mixed-use development on the North Side. Developer Northwood Investments LLC laid out its initial plans for the Sears outlet store property in Lawrenceville. Northwood has hired Perkins Eastman to design the 250,000 square foot tech research space it is calling Dock 51.

The PA Turnpike awarded Trumbull Corp. a $116.2 million contract for Section 55A-2 of the Southern Beltway. The final major section of the Beltway, the $100 million-plus 55C2-1 is bidding now, due December 19. Along with the interchange construction, these are the final pieces of the puzzle that will allow for limited access connection from I-79 at Southpointe to the airport and beyond.