The Big K Morning Show
Point Park University Expansion
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Visit the sharpest rides located at 2250 South T-Home Street in Inglewood. Or browse their inventory online at thesharpestrides.com. Don't miss your chance to treat yourself to a new ride at a scary good price. The sharpest rides, affordable, sexy, sharp. Dear Autumn Leaves, you won't be covering roads alone this season. Toyota's lineup of cool, colorful vehicles is ready to ride by your side. Take on fall in a trail tackling Tacoma. Or go for the powerful Tundra. Head to toyota.com for more info. Or visit your local Toyota dealership today. Toyota, let's go places. Good morning and thanks for choosing us three weeks until the election. And we'll keep you posted between here and there. Meanwhile, I think a lot of us love to hear about what's to come. And downtown Pittsburgh is home of Point Park University. And we're honored to have with us Dr. Chris Prussellos, who's been president since last February. Chris, good morning. Good morning. Great to be with you. You've had some pretty significant announcements. So when you took over as president of Point Park University, you started to reimagine and have a vision for the future. So I'll let you, I don't want to steal your thunder. No, that's right. I mean, I think that the, you know, the stars aligned. You know, we're the downtown university. And we started a pretty robust strategic planning process. Pioneer Vision 2030, we engaged the entire university community, our stakeholders in the community. And we started imagining, you know, we're the downtown university and downtowns are in transformation. And unfortunately, the office workers aren't going to come back in droves. And we believe that downtowns are going to be driven by the creator economy. They're going to become centers of arts, entertainment, recreation. And guess what? That's our, that's our sweet spot. So, you know, we think that, you know, we are very well-positioned to, to bring more vitality and to revitalize downtown. You know, we're, we're growing as a university. Our plan is working. We are up in enrollment where unfortunately a lot of colleges and universities kind of in our class, the private independence are down and, and we're up. And so the, the plan is working. You know, we have an opportunity to bring another thousand people, students living, working, learning and playing downtown. And then after we do that, we'll bring another thousand. I mean, who else can do that? It's a great opportunity for Point Park, and I think it's a great opportunity for Pittsburgh. Yeah. I know some of your very impressive alum, including Bob Pompey, Annie Pompin, ain't easy. That's right. And then our producer, Aaron Farragonio, is one of your former dancers, and she's been a great asset to us. But what is the conception of, or perception of Point Park is, is exactly that. I mean, you have this rich entertainment connection too, and have placed a lot of talent in the entertainment industry. But what's your vision for Point Park moving forward? How should we look at this gem in downtown Pittsburgh? Yeah. Well, I think, you know, we have this exceptional conservatory performing arts. It's right now I'm in LA, and it's so dark 30 out here, and we're out here meeting with exceptional alumni. You know, I think the opportunity here is, and one of the things that we're pulling off is, you know, our growth is we're looking at our strengths, and that's the conservatory. We're creating synergies among our other five schools. We have six exceptional schools, and so that's how we're going to pull this off. One of the things that we did is we just brought in the Urban Land Institute, and this is basically a, there's an Urban Land Institute, the ULI chapter in just about every major city. And we brought in a panel of experts from around the country, you know, experts in architecture, developers, real estate experts, urban planners, economists, and we had them go through and exercise the end of April. You know, look at Point Park and it's positioning downtown, robust stakeholder engagement process, talk to about 70 stakeholders. You know, what can we do to leverage in this study was just being released, I think it was last Thursday, and it validated some of the things that we were thinking of and also identified new opportunities. So, you know, as part of this, you know, we're one of the things that the ULI brought up was, you know, looking at Pittsburgh's fourth river, fourth river of concrete, the boulevard of the Allies. It cuts right through the middle of the college campus. You know, are there opportunities to tame that down to, you know, create more residential living and more vitality around that quarter? You know, another opportunity is, you know, you have Point Park University anchored at the Monongahela River, right? Our south shore and you have a cultural district anchored at the Allegheny River, the north shore. Is there an opportunity to create a corridor, a cultural corridor between those are the two largest property owners downtown? And so, you know, we're looking at, you know, creating this, these cultural amenities, you know, bolstering our focus and arts entertainment, entertainment technology and media, overlaying and accelerator. We have Audrey Russo, the head of the Pittsburgh Technology Council involved. What are some things that we can do to infuse arts and technology and develop intellectual property and entrepreneurship in that zone? You know, and the other thing that was brought up was housing. I mean, Oakland is busting at the seams. Pitt is growing. You know, is there, there's a university line going to be created right from Oakland to the center of downtown. Is there an opportunity to look at inter-institutional housing? You know, collaborating with Pitt, Carnegie Mellon, Carlo for housing. You know, what a great place to live if you're a graduate student in Oakland, but downtown, you know, so we'll need more housing with our growth. And then this ULI study identified kind of the crown jewel that we're looking at is, there's an opportunity. We need a place to gather. We're making a big push into live entertainment. And that's a downtown community event center. And you're going to get some help on that connection between Oakland, Chris, as you know, they're working on that rapid transit opportunity that we've been waiting decades for that will really truly link downtown and Oakland and open up a whole world of opportunities. Well, to be continued, excited about your expansion plans of the future. I didn't realize you were going to join us from LA. Sorry about the early wake up, but I appreciate your time. And we'll talk again when you get back. All right. Thanks a lot, Rick. The president of Point Park University. That's all right. It's early. I get it. Believe me. Every day at 3 a.m. Thanks, Chris. Amazon fall favorites are here to make you say with low prices on home, beauty, and fashion brands, like Amazon essentials. So hold on to your pumpkin spice, whatever, and save on fall favorites at Amazon. The sharpest ride spooktacular savings event is happening now with unbeatable seasonal clearance deals, but only through the end of this month, whether you're looking for a reliable sedan, family-friendly SUV, or something sporty. Now is the time to take advantage of these frighteningly good offers. The sharpest rides are the pre-owned auto experts and have thousands of satisfied customers. And they give back for every vehicle purchase. The sharpest rides are going to make a donation to the St. Jude Children's Hospital. Listen, the sharpest rides has the best deals in town. That's why they scare the competition. Get there today during their hauntingly great deals. Plus, the sharpest rides has spooky surprises for the kiddos. Don't miss out. Hurry up before these deals vanish. Visit the sharpest rides located 2250 South T-Home Street in Englewood or browse their inventory online at the sharpestrides.com. You miss your chance to treat yourself to a new ride at a scary good price. The sharpest rides, affordable, sexy, sharp. Dear Autumn Leaves, you won't be covering roads alone this season. Toyota's lineup of cool, colorful vehicles is ready to ride by your side. Take on fall in a trail tackling Tacoma, or go for the powerful Tundra. Head to toyota.com for more info, or visit your local Toyota dealership today. Toyota, let's go places. (upbeat music) (upbeat music)