It was an indoor groundbreaking ceremony, but it had all the essentials: silver shovels, hard hats -- and real dirt. Piles of it neatly lined up on a platform before a towering photo of an empty lot.
That was good enough for leaders and scientists at the University of Pittsburgh, who, along with some of western Pennsylvania's leading philanthropists, celebrated on Thursday the coming construction of Biomedical Science Tower 3.
"It's got to be better than being outside," Pitt Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg said inside Oakland's Alumni Hall on a snowy, icy day.
Minutes later, he and others shoveled some of the dirt onto a large projector screen. "While this may be a virtual groundbreaking, the benefits to be produced by the construction that will follow are very real. Real people with real medical problems are going to be helped by the work done here."
The $188 million, 10-story tower along Fifth Avenue will be the home of the two-year-old Pittsburgh Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases. Scientists at the institute are targeting debilitating diseases that destroy nerve cells, including Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases.
Pitt scientists praised the building's no-walls design, which replaces individual research rooms with large, open areas where experts from different specialties can share information. In addition, at least three bridges at the limestone and glass building will connect research laboratories to clinics where patients will be treated, including the Kaufmann building and UPMC Montefiore hospital.
"There isn't anything more rewarding for people in research than being able to see their outcomes gaining traction in clinical areas," said Dr. Steven T. DeKosky, professor and chair of Pitt's department of neurology. "It gives them not only urgency, but a little reality dose of what they're doing."
Two Scaife foundations contributed $10.8 million to support the tower's construction, as well as a research seed program for young scientists. Pitt officials praised the Scaife Family Foundation and the DSF Charitable Foundation for enabling the construction of the building and for their tradition of support.
"Their participation in this project is a continuation of the significant role that the Scaife family has played in supporting the University of Pittsburgh for more than 75 years," Nordenberg said. He said the grants were matched with a $10 million gift from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
Pitt officials said 50 research groups will be based in the tower, totaling about 500 scientists, students and staff. Scientists will conduct research in areas such as structural biology, synthetic chemistry and computational biology.
Construction is scheduled to begin next month and be completed by the spring of 2005. The tower should be occupied that winter.
