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Salk fund is key to new Hillman Cancer Center in Shadyside
Approval of the fund could make the difference between a 200,000-square-foot and a 400,000-square-foot facility to provide new space for research that no longer is available at the existing Hillman center on Centre Avenue, said officials who touted the need for the Salk fund.
The new research space could be created at either the nearby former Ford Motor Co. building already owned by UPMC or at an eight-acre site across Baum Boulevard from the center, said Dr. Ronald Herberman, director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute. The eight-acre site was formerly targeted for a private development project known as Luna Square.
UPMC hasn't yet completed a deal to buy the site, Herberman said.
The medical center plans plans to ask the state for $100 million from the Legacy Fund if it is established. UPMC would match that money to develop the second facility.
"We are currently in the very advanced stage of negotiations ... but there are still details to be worked out," Herberman said, referring to talks to buy the Luna Square site. "We are quite confident that in either case we will be able to fulfill the vision we've been talking about ... but it would be enhanced tremendously in terms of scope by approval of this Salk Legacy Fund."
"Even the strongest of our medical research institutions are finding it difficult to meet the ever expanding construction costs and the demands of capital expansion," said Gov. Ed Rendell.
He was joined by officials of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and State Reps. Chelsa Wagner, D-Beechview, and Matt Smith, D-Mt. Lebanon, who are sponsoring the legislation.
The fund was named for Jonas Salk, who developed the vaccine against polio in 1955 at the University of Pittsburgh.
Rendell wanted the Salk fund included in the current state budget, but it was left out by the Legislature. Republican lawmakers opposed it because it would require additional debt financing.
Rendell said money to pay the debt would come from the state's share of a national settlement with tobacco companies, not from the state's general fund. About 9.5 percent of the tobacco funds, or about $35 million a year, would be involved, Rendell said.
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