Lehigh University’s plan to grow its College of Business by adding a three-story building on a Webster Street parking lot gained city approval.
The Bethlehem Planning Commission unanimously approved the South Bethlehem university’s plan to construct the $28 million building at 459-461 Webster St. on the site of a 44-space parking lot and three Lehigh administrative buildings. The new addition will sit across from the Rauch Business Center.
The new high-tech building will give young businesses a place to grow and students a chance to dive into the world of big data in a new data analytics lab. The proposed 18,500-square-foot building will grow Lehigh’s financial services lab and expand the business communications center.
The Vistex Center for Executive Education -- created by Lehigh MBA alumnus and Vistex, Inc., founder Sanjay Shah -- will occupy the entire third floor. The center provides high-impact, short programs for working professionals. Lehigh is adding a business incubator program in partnership with the Baker Center for Entrepreneurship.
Back in January, the planning commission approved the project’s sketch plan and the city Zoning Hearing Board granted the project six variances. The commission granted it final approval at Thursday’s meeting.
Lehigh University plans to construct a three-story building to expand the Rauch Business Center on this West Packer Avenue parking lot.Sara K. Satullo | For lehighvalleylive.com
Lehigh will need to demolish two existing university campus facilities/services planning buildings and the Zoellner Arts Center administrative offices to construct the Rauch expansion, according to a letter submitted to the city planning bureau. The administrative offices will be relocated elsewhere on campus, the university has said.
The project is part of Lehigh’s Path to Prominence, an aggressive plan to grow the university’s undergraduate and graduate enrollment by 1,500 students, attract more leading researchers to the faculty and open a new College of Health. It’s meant lots of building activity on the campus in recent years.
SouthSide Commons, a new five-story development of 426 student apartments at Packer and Brodhead avenues, opened last fall. The university is building a cluster of six new resident halls west of the the Clayton University Center at Packer Hall. The first $75 million phase of the New Residential Houses project -- originally dubbed Bridge West -- is already underway. Three of the dorms were set to open for students this fall, but Pennsylvania’s moratorium on construction during the COVID-19 pandemic put the project behind schedule.
It remains to be seen whether the coronavirus pandemic slows down Lehigh’s aggressive growth plans. The university is projecting a $40 million budget gap in its next budget.
Lehigh is cutting merit-based raises for staff, its employee retirement match and furloughing employees starting in July.
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Sara K. Satullo may be reached at ssatullo@lehighvalleylive.com.
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New Lehigh University 3-story building gets approval - lehighvalleylive.com
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