A panel of University of Pittsburgh trustees on Wednesday authorized spending up to $10 million to acquire a piece of property in Hazelwood Green to develop a cell and gene therapy manufacturing facility.

The three-acre property known as Lot 18 would become home to BioForge.

“BioForge will be designed to help define Pittsburgh as an international leader in biotherapeutics by attracting industry, entrepreneurs and investors (and) stimulating economic growth while creating life-saving, life-enhancing therapies for our region and the world,” David DeJong, senior vice chancellor for business and operations, told Pitt’s Property and Facilities Committee during Wednesday’s virtual meeting.

University officials said they would like to acquire the property after the real estate firm Tishman Speyer completes its due diligence.

In August, the university announced a 30-year partnership to bring Massachusetts-based ElevateBio to Pitt’s BioForge Biomanufacturing Center at Hazelwood Green. The idea was to boost development of innovative cell and gene therapies, officials said at the time.

In November, the Richard King Mellon Foundation announced the largest single-project grant in the foundation’s 75-year history — a $100 million award — to create the center.

“Pitt BioForge is a generational opportunity to bring extraordinary economic-development benefits to our region and life-changing cell and gene therapies to patients,” Sam Reiman, director of the Richard King Mellon Foundation, said when the award was announced.

Officials have said they hope the development will generate more than 170 permanent, full-time jobs, along with 900 construction jobs and 360 off-site support jobs.

The Property and Facilities Committee has authority to approve spending of up to $10 million on its own, so the action Wednesday does not require a vote of the full board of trustees, said Pitt spokesman Jared Stonesifer.

The negotiations themselves “are really in their infancy,” so the actual sale price has not been determined, he said.

The university can execute a purchase and sales agreement, but design and construction plans will need the full board’s approval.

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)