Pittsburgh clears way for UPMC Presby work to resume after permit flap

Pittsburgh officials on Wednesday approved an electrical permit for construction of the UPMC Presbyterian hospital tower, a city spokeswoman said, after some work was halted last week.

A Pittsburgh inspector last week found the project did not have all the necessary permits, according to Maria Montaño, a spokesperson for Mayor Ed Gainey. Construction work related to electrical and mechanical permits — which had not yet been issued — was paused and workers were sent home.

In a social media post Wednesday, Montaño said the electrical permit was approved and would be issued Wednesday.

“Reviews are still ongoing for the mechanical and suppression permits and our PLI (Permits, Licenses and Inspections) team is in constant contact with UPMC in order to help facilitate getting workers back on the job,” she wrote.

UPMC countered that there are other permits that need to be issued.

“Unless mechanical, sprinkler and fire alarm permits are expedited, those other trade union members could soon run out of work,” UPMC said in in a written statement, referencing the additional permits that have yet to be finalized.

City Councilman Anthony Coghill, D-Beechview, earlier Wednesday called on the administration to “make it expedient” and get the permits approved as quickly as possible, as 150 workers were waiting to get back to work.

“This is affecting people’s lives, their livelihood, their families,” he said during a brief plea to address the issue at the end of a City Council meeting.

Allegheny County Councilman Sam DeMarco issued a social media statement calling the work stoppage “unprecedented” and claiming the Gainey administration was “slamming shut a construction site” and leaving workers on pause “all in the sake of pressuring the region’s major employer to comply with their political agenda.”

Montaño said that DeMarco’s allegations were “categorically untrue.”

“This is a limited stop work order after it was discovered during a routine inspection that work was being done without the permit to do so,” she said.

I issued the following statement today in regard to the Gainey administration’s unprecedented work stoppage at the site of UPMC’s new Presbyterian Tower expansion in Oakland.

Statement by County Councilman Sam DeMarco

The Gainey administration and its handlers in the SEIU…

— Sam DeMarco ???????????????? (@sdemarcoii) June 25, 2024

UPMC broke ground on the $1.5 billion hospital tower in June 2022 after announcing the project in 2017. The 17-story facility will include 636 private rooms.