Pitt, UPMC Teaming On $200 Million Research Facility

PITTSBURGH, PA - The University of Pittsburgh and UPMC have announced plans to partner on the $200 million UPMC Immune Transplant and Therapy Center near Shadyside Hospital.

The building, which Pitt and UMPC officials envision as an immunotherapy research center and innovation hub, will be housed in a century-old building at Baum Boulevard and Morewood Avenue. The 200,000-square-foot structure was originally built as a Ford Motor Co. assembly plant and showroom.

Pitt will renovate the building, which is expected to be ready for occupancy in 2020. UPMC is providing $200 million in initial funding to accelerate immunotherapy research. Pitt and UPMC officials are promising “a world-class space for labs, offices, startup companies and industry partners.”

“We are creating an unprecedented ecosystem - one that connects basic science discoveries from Pitt with life-changing advances from UPMC while leveraging the catalytic power of industry partners,” Pitt Chancellor Patrick Gallagher said in a statement. “It’s a combination that will transform immunotherapy care and help us tackle some of medicine’s greatest challenges.”

Said UPMC President and CEO Jeffrey Romoff: “The (center) represents an endeavor that is at the heart of UPMC’s mission—to develop and deliver life-changing medicine. By investing in extraordinary people and groundbreaking research today, we will define tomorrow’s health care, right here in Pittsburgh.”

The center’s announcement comes three months after UPMC unveiled plans to build three new specialty hospitals in Pittsburgh.

The UPMC Heart and Transplant Center, the UPMC Hillman Cancer Hospital and the UPMC Vision and Rehabilitation Hospital will rise on the existing campuses of UPMC's Presbyterian, Shadyside and Mercy hospitals, respectively.

The vision and rehab hospital is slated to open in 2020, the cancer hospital in 2022. UPMC has not provided an anticipated date for the opening of the heart and transplant center, a 15-story building that will be built on the site of the former Children's Hospital.

Rendering via the University of Pittsburgh.