It looks like 225,000 square feet of cutting-edge real estate development will be coming to Oakland.
On April 8, Carlow University announced a new partnership with the real estate firm Elmhurst Group to develop a large-scale, mixed-use building on their campus.
The development will replace a parking lot owned by the school on Fifth Avenue.
For Carlow students, the building will bring 100,000 square feet of new labs, eateries and green spaces. The remaining 125,000 square feet will be offered to startups and companies looking for Oakland real estate.
“Development of this property presents a transformational opportunity to realize a larger vision for the university property on Fifth Avenue,” says Dr. Suzanne K. Mellon, president of Carlow University. “The property is located within the Innovation District in Oakland, and is an excellent location for a company in healthcare, technology or innovation interested in partnering with a university.”
The Innovation District refers to an ongoing city project aimed at supporting projects and public initiatives that spread the wealth and resources of Oakland’s tech and research community into underserved parts of the city.
The project builds on work both Pitt and CMU are already doing to extend their research and services beyond their Oakland campuses while steering money toward startups working in these neighborhoods and attracting new outposts of existing tech companies.
“Elmhurst has a strong history of creating landmark properties with great appeal to many different kinds of users,” says Elmhurst Group President and CEO William E. Hunt. “We look forward to partnering with Carlow on this important project.”
As the current agreement is only a memorandum of understanding committing both sides to future discussions, no official timeline for the project has been announced.
The Innovation District project grew out of the recommendations of a report from The Brookings Institution released in September 2017 titled, “Capturing the next economy: Pittsburgh’s rise as a global innovation city.”
“Pittsburgh’s scientific and technical strengths have not fully translated into broad-based economic activity,” reads the report. “Instead, the city currently has seven percent fewer jobs in high-wage, high-tech advanced industries than it did in 2000.”
