The Pittsburgh Downtown Media Hub (PDMH) brings together professional journalists and Point Park University communication students to advance local storytelling through collaboration and shared resources. The Hub, located on the 10^th floor of the Benedum-Trees Building at 223 Fourth Avenue, currently houses six news outlets — City Cast Pittsburgh, The Incline, NEXT Pittsburgh, The Pittsburgh Independent, Qburgh and Storyburgh – as well as the Pittsburgh Women’s Press Club as subtenants.

The space was made available to the Point Park’s Center for Media Innovation by The Benter Foundation, which is providing grant funding for operations. In addition to the six news outlets, the Hub also houses the Pittsburgh Media Partnership coordinator and a CMI employee who serves as the Hub coordinator. The shared workspace also includes a podcast studio, conference room, work lounge and kitchen. The Benter Foundation was extraordinarily generous in building out the space to specifications and needs of the CMI and the subtenants.

It is hoped that by bringing professionals, students and the public into the Benedum-Trees space, the Hub will breathe new life into an area near campus that otherwise would remain unused. The CMI intends to use the Hub as a space for workshops, networking, club meetings and more that will engage diverse audiences to support local storytelling.

Caroline Jones Machesney, a local socialite and the wife of a prominent local attorney, originally commissioned the 19-story skyscraper in 1905 and eight years later sold the building to Mike Benedum and Joe Trees of the Benedum-Trees Oil Company. Benedum and Trees went on to have a successful and lucrative business partnership that lasted more than four decades before Trees’ death in 1943 at the age of 74.

More on the Benedum-Trees Building: https://www.gofourthpittsburgh.org/explore/benedum-trees-building