Rendering by GBBN Pittsburgh Architects
An artist rendering of the new Center for Media Innovation, which will be located at the former site of Nathan’s Famous at the corner of Wood Street and Third Ave. Downtown.

Last Wednesday, Point Park announced it will transform the former Nathan’s Famous restaurant into the Point Park Center for Media Innovation – a $2.5 million project made possible by donations from the Allegheny Foundation and Trib Total Media.

The Center for Media Innovation will feature a collaborative newsroom and classroom facility, new photography studio, along with a new television and radio studio. It will feature a pivoting wall that can transform the facility into a hub for guest speakers when it is not in use for students. A news ticker will stream news from the Trib newsroom, and, according to Point Park President Paul Hennigan, will feature work from graphic arts and animation students as well. 

“We hope that it will be a laboratory and an incubator for students and faculty to come together to explore and learn and be on the cutting edge of technology,” Hennigan said in an interview in Academic Hall last Thursday. “[The Center for Media Innovation] has the opportunity to be a leader in media innovation throughout the country.” 

The new space will be the permanent home of the Point Park News Service, directed by adjunct journalism professor Andrew Conte – who is also an investigative reporter at the Tribune Review. The Trib occasionally purchases students’ work from the News Service, and according to Conte, the Trib has purchased $8600 in student content. 

For student media organizations, The Globe, U-View and WPPJ, the Center for Media Innovation will not be the new permanent offices, but rather be a complimentary location for said organizations. 

“As students at the University, [members of student media organizations] want to see their organizations running to the best of their ability,” senior SAEM major Derek Brough said in an interview Wednesday. “Not being at the facility could bring up some controversy, but I don’t necessarily see any issues as long as they have access to the center and to the new equipment.” 

Some students frequent the site already, but will soon be ushered away when the project is complete – which is set to be in Fall 2016. 

Jordan Greene and Jennifer Celli, both juniors in the School of Communication, are excited about the prospect of the Center for Media Innovation, but frustrated about what it means for them as smokers. 

“Point Park treats their student smokers like criminals – they really do,” Celli, a photography major, said in an interview Wednesday. “The only other place to smoke is down by West Penn and that’s always filled with sketchy people, so I come here. Not being able to smoke here is going to suck.” 

Greene, a photojournalism major agreed, “We have this tiny little designated smoking area that no one is ever at – no one has time to walk all the way over there.” 

For Celli and Greene, the photography studio is the most exciting element of the Center for Media Innovation due to the poor conditions of the current studio in Academic Hall. 

“The photo facilities – the dark rooms – are very nice, they’re pretty quality,” Celli said. “The studio is falling apart. The wall is a mess. We’ve had students offer to paint it because of how bad it is. The Photoshop job that you have to do after shooting in the studio is ridiculous.” 

Some students hoped to see something different with the former site of Nathan’s Famous – as is the case for Brough. 

“I actually was shocked whenever I heard they were putting a media center in,” Brough said. “I think another kind of campus dining facility might have been a nice addition. I thought, at first…Starbucks might potentially relocate.” 

With that being said, Brough, a former student employee and guide for the Office of Admissions, sees great opportunity in the Center for Media Innovation from a recruitment standpoint. 

“People love seeing updates being made,” Brough said. “When I would tell [prospective students] about the Playhouse being moved Downtown, everyone got really excited. I think having this new media center…and showcasing it is going to increase the recruitment.” 

Brough says with the correct educational background on the School of Communication’s history, and the Center for Media Innovation itself, will be the key in getting prospective students excited about Point Park’s mission of innovative media. 

That same mission is apparent all across the nation. By last Thursday, five different newspapers in five different states across the country picked up a story on the Center for Media Innovation, according to Lou Corsaro, Director of Marketing and Public Relations at Point Park. 

“I think it showcases that a lot of media outlets are excited about something like this because we’re…still training journalists in a traditional way and then giving them all these additional tools they need for the future,” Corsaro said in an interview in Academic Hall Thursday.

For senior broadcast reporting major Brittany Lauffer – who spoke at the press conference last Wednesday – the Center for Media Innovation will be a facility she will not get to take advantage of, but as the station manager of Point Park’s U-View, she is interested to see what it will offer for the future of the student media station. 

“I really want to come back and speak with the students and see what they do with it,” Lauffer said in an interview after the press conference last Wednesday. “Being station manager, seeing how the station has grown, working with other departments, seeing where students have gone – now I just want to see what they do with what they’re going to be given.”

 Photo courtesy of Liz Berie
President Paul Hennigan announced that the old Nathan’s Hotdog building will become the new Center for Media and Innovation which will cost $2.5 million, paid in part with a grant from the Allegheny Foundation, and sponsored by Trib Total Media, at a press conference, Oct. 21. 

Photo courtesy of Liz Berie
Senior broadcasting major Brittany Lauffer spoke on behalf of the students in the School of Communication regarding the new Center for Media and Innovation which will replace the currently vacant Nathan’s Hotdog building on the corner of Wood Street and Third Avenue.