Construction on the new Haupert Union Building (HUB) began in January and is expected to continue until the fall of 2025. The project is coordinated by Moravian’s Facilities Management, Planning & Construction (FMPC) in conjunction with Warfel Construction.
Over the summer, construction continued regularly while most of the student body was on break. The majority of the summer was spent completing the concrete foundations of the new building according to the Associate Director of Planning and Project Management at FMPC, Amber Donato.
Now that the foundation is complete, students will see more visible progress being made to the structure. By the beginning of the semester, visible changes had already commenced, such as the wall around the Blue & Grey Cafe, the elevator shaft next to The Star, and the newly paved Lot J and sidewalk on West Laurel St.
Structural steel work began on the building on Sept. 11, and as the semester progresses, the steel structure of the building will start to take shape. Additionally, in the coming weeks, FMPC will be coordinating with Warfel Construction to have a steel beam for students to sign. This beam will be one of the last pieces of steel to be set.
As many students have lamented, the booths in The Star have been gone since the beginning of the semester, because structural steelwork was done to connect the old building to the new structure. The booths will return early this month, after Fall Break (Oct. 4-8).
On Wednesday, June 26, a severe thunderstorm with winds above 60 mph hit the Lehigh Valley. As with the rest of the Bethlehem area, the storm led to damage across campus, such as scratched bricks on academic buildings and fallen tree branches.
Due to this storm, there was some water infiltration into The Star, but there were no delays in construction.
The lawn by the Alpha Sigma Alpha sorority house is currently being used as temporary parking for Warfel Construction workers and is anticipated to be turned back into a grass area after construction is completed.
