In the heart of Greenfield, Yeshiva Schools is building a future
With a multimillion dollar construction project underway, the beginnings of a dream are apparent
School in a construction zone has its perks: Progress is easy to see. Since September, boys high school students at Yeshiva Schools of Pittsburgh have attended classes at 411 Greenfield Ave. The former St. Rosalia site, which includes dormitories with room for nearly 70 individuals, is under construction. Having purchased the 70,000-square-foot site for $1,200,000 in 2021, Yeshiva is transitioning the space into the future home of both its boys high school and boys elementary school.
“We’ve spent close to $10 million on purchasing the property and doing the work,” Rabbi Yossi Rosenblum, Yeshiva’s CEO, said.
Floors remain unfinished, walls are bare, but the beginnings of a dream are apparent. Walking through the site last week, Janna Unik, Yeshiva’s director of development and communications, pointed to new plumbing, electrical and HVAC work.
“We’re using spaces right now as best as they fit,” she said.
Temporary walls separate students from major construction. Current learning centers are a mix of finished and untouched areas. Two classrooms with antiquated doors and windows housed teenage learners. Nearby, a teacher and pupil reviewed physics while seated at a desk cordoned off from a cluttered hallway by a room divider.
“I haven’t been to many schools, but this kind of feels regular,” Levi Sandhaus, grade 10, said.
“Some stuff is finished. Some isn’t,” added Tuvia Shollar, grade 10.
It will take another three or four months of “actual construction” before the elementary school is complete — a cost requiring less than $1 million, Rosenblum said. Larger expenses involve finishing a two-story gym, with room for a full-size basketball court, building a driveway and redoing the courtyard’s entrance. “Everything together will be another $4 million.”
Rabbi Eliezer Shusterman, principal of Yeshiva’s Mesivta and Boys High School, said students and staff are appreciative of the new surroundings: “All of the resources and funds that were needed to get where we are allows us to have the space and enjoy it.”
Unik pointed to usable areas where about 40 boys high school students exercise, eat and study. A finished beit midrash (study hall) overlooks Greenfield Elementary School. “We have a collaborative relationship with them,” she said.
“They’ve been very helpful and welcoming,” Rosenblum said. Whether it’s allowing Yeshiva students to use the yard after school or bike through the parking lot, having them as neighbors “gives us more space and amenities.”
Back in the basement, Shollar stood in a windowless closet and touted Yeshiva’s 3-D printer. Whether making keychains, tzedakah boxes or other items, there’s a method. The procedure recently was employed to help a classmate with transportation, Shollar said. “Some guy broke his scooter and we made him a replacement part so he didn’t have to pay $40 for the piece.”
Learning is occurring throughout the building, Shusterman noted.
“When you see a finished product you don’t always appreciate the work and effort that’s gone into it,” he said. By observing a process, or even partnering in the creation, “you have that appreciation of going from the unfinished to the finished and all the steps it takes to get there.” PJC
Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
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