Large portion of old Children's Hospital faces wrecking ball

The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center next year will demolish a big part of the old Children's Hospital in Oakland to prepare for an undetermined project, a UPMC spokesman said yesterday.

"We're still putting the plan together," said spokesman Frank Raczkiewicz.

The demolition project — which includes landscaping the area once the buildings come down — will begin in January and is expected to take about a year, he said.

Raczkiewicz would not disclose the plan for the site or if it would include changing the entrance to flagship UPMC Presbyterian, which sits behind the former Children's site.

The oldest parts of the complex will be destroyed, including a yellow brick tower and blue aluminum-sided building at Fifth Avenue and DeSoto Street.

One hospital tower will remain — the blue-banded building at the rear of the campus. The 477,000-square-foot building houses clinical offices and laboratories and imaging facilities that are part of Presby. A UPMC helipad sits above that tower, which connects to Presby on several of its 10 floors.

Children's in May moved to a $625 million complex in Lawrenceville. Part of the reason for the move was lack of space to grow, as well as the condition of the aging Oakland buildings.

In 2001, UPMC officials proposed building a landmark portal at Fifth and DeSoto that would lead to a 1.2-acre parklet. The beautification plan was part of a $600 million overhaul of the Oakland campus, but was halted when UPMC decided to move Children's to Lawrenceville, instead of nearby UPMC Montefiore.

Raczkiewicz said the plan remains "on the books" with the city, but the situation changed with the hospital's departure from Oakland.

Officials with the city Planning Commission did not return calls for comment yesterday.

"We don't know what the site will look like, as of yet," Raczkiewicz said. "There have been no final design decisions made."

The first part of the project will involve removing asbestos from parts of the buildings, which could take about four months and will be done while the site design is finalized. Demolition is expected to take about seven months.

"They want to do it slowly and carefully," Raczkiewicz said.

Much of the debris from demolition will be crushed on site and used for fill. The area will be landscaped and will remain as "green space" until UPMC decides what to do with the property, he said. The landscaping will take about a month to complete.