PITTSBURGH — A Pittsburgh resident and alumni of Shady Side Academy is helping the National Aviary find a new nest for its next breeding and conservation center, teaching hospital and educational space.Our news partners at the Trib reported that Fox Chapel resident and 1962 graduate S. Kent Rockwell is working to acquire Shady Side Academy middle school.

The Trib said the plan is to have the 35-acre middle school campus donated to the Aviary via the SK Rockwell Conservancy.

Acquiring the middle school coincides with the academy’s construction of a new middle school building on the high school’s campus, the Trib said, which is located along the 400 block of Fox Chapel Road.

The new school will cover grades 6-12 for the first time since 1958 and will hold 260 students. The construction comes in part of a $26 million project, the Trib said.

That project is largely funded through a 2022 donation by Rockwell and his partner, Pat Babyak. The pair gifted $15 million, the largest in the academy’s more than 140-year history, the Trib stated.

Students are expected to be moved into the new middle school by next year, with the sale projected to close sometime in January of 2026.

According to the Trib, Aviary officials said renovations could take up to a year, with an opening celebration planned for 2027.

The campus, in addition to the main middle school building, also has several residential properties as well, which is said to be turned into housing for interns and students involved in conservation, breeding and research.

“The middle school campus redevelopment is part of a broader, ambitious master plan for the National Aviary, which includes the renovations of both the veterinary hospital at the Aviary’s North Side location as well as modifications to the donated Fox Chapel property,” the Trib stated.

Overall, the project is expected to cost $17 million.