Greensburg Reaction to SHU's Arts Expansion

Seton Hill continuing Greensburg's renaissance

Continuing a renaissance for the downtown, Seton Hill University outlined plans for an $11.5 million University Center for the Arts. The 50,000-square-foot complex on Harrison Avenue will house the school's music and theater programs, studios, offices and classrooms.

The center will be within a five-minute walk of the campus of the private liberal arts school. Several buildings along the west side of Harrison will be razed for the project and ground could be broken this fall.

"This is another great day for the whole City of Greensburg," said city planner Barbara Ciampini, one of 70 administrators and merchants who attended a breakfast meeting yesterday where they viewed detailed drawings.

The center will be financed by the college, aided with a $5 million state grant. Plans call for a block-long complex with a 28,800-square-foot theater arts building with a 300-seat flexible theater. That would be linked to a 21,500-square-foot music hall with a 600-seat auditorium. The center will later include space for start-up businesses and a school for students of tourism.