Construction on new 371-bed residence hall begins

Large orange barricades and a fence surround University Drive from the outer edge of Taylor House  to Lamberton Hall. The fence marks the start of construction on the new 371-bed East Hill Residence Hall, scheduled to open for students in fall 2028. 

Clad in helmets and holding shovels, representatives from across Lehigh including Chris Cook, senior vice president for finance and administration, Joe Kloeck, senior director of Planning, Design and Construction, ‘98, Provost Nathan Urban, Board of Trustees members, and representatives from the architectural firm DigSau and the construction firm Boyle, posed for pictures at a groundbreaking event for East Hill on Oct. 16. 

Kloeck said the construction team is working on site controls this week, and tree clearing will likely begin in the next two weeks, followed by site grading and excavation. Kloeck said the fence around University Drive will be up until the construction finishes. 

East Hill will sit between Drinker and McClintic-Marshall residence halls, where a forested area and a basketball court currently lie. A path through the patch of woods currently connects the first-year residence halls to each other. 

According to Klocek, there will be more trees replaced than the number cut down during construction.

Klocek said East Hill will consist of four connected buildings at different heights adjusted to the steepness of the hill, and will feature a gym, common area kitchens, common lounge,meeting spaces and a mix of single and double rooms. 

Cook said East Hill is part of Lehigh’s strategic plan to adapt to higher enrollment in coming years. 

There are 1,608 first-year students enrolled at Lehigh this year, making up the largest first-year class ever. The record enrollment prompted a need for 82 first-years to live in typically upperclassmen housing in Singleton, Hitch and Maida, and Brodhead.

Cook said the university determined they’d need around 320 more beds for first-year students to accommodate future enrollment increases by the time the building is complete., This estimate drove the planning behind building East Hill, a project Lehigh is using debt to finance.

Cook said the additional 50 or so beds in the 371-bed residence hall will allow for students to live in East Hill while older residence halls are renovated.

The residence hall construction also includes making University Drive a two-way road, complete with a sidewalk, lights and signage. 

Klocek said the changes to University Drive are part of a decades-long initiative at Lehigh to move traffic out of central campus and make the campus more pedestrian friendly. The road will still be open to emergency vehicles during construction, Klocek said.

The addition of a sidewalk is especially necessary, as many students live in this area, and are walking to and from classes. 

“We’ve been lucky, as far as I know, with nobody being injured or any of that, but I’m sure there’s close calls all the time, just because of how many people are up in that area walking down from the residence halls, the University Center and beyond,” Klocek said. 

Klocek said the construction work is scheduled to take place between 7 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, with louder noises not expected before 7:30 a.m. 

Klocek said this year, the site will be excavated primarily near the intersection of University Drive and Taylor Street for an underground basin, and the foundation for the building will be laid. He said additional excavation will be minimal because East Hill is being built up the hill, and the bulk of building construction will start  in late spring 2027.

“This will definitely be something people notice when they come back next fall,” said Ryan Rose, associate vice president for facilities and campus planning.

Design decisions for East Hill 

To decide where the new residence hall should go, Klocek said the facilities team leaned on Lehigh’s master planning consultants, who identified the forested spot as ideally situated between other first-year housing, fostering a sense of community for the residents. 

Klocek said the university then solicited proposals from designers. Klocek said they looked for design ideas  with elements of the strategic plan, including LEED certification and Lehigh’s Sustainability Strategic Plan 2030. 

According to the U.S. Green Building Council, LEED certification is a world-wide green building rating tool used to measure the efficiency and green energy use of constructed buildings. Klocek said East Hill will be the first fully-electric residential building on Lehigh’s campus, and it won’t be using fossil fuels directly. 

In this way, Klocek said the design also aligns with Lehigh’s Sustainability Strategic Plan 2030 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the university’s impact on climate change.

He also said the university worked with the City of Bethlehem to meet permitting requirements and stormwater regulations, including putting a fence up around the site for environmental controls.

Klocek said an overarching goal of the design was to make sure students living in the residence hall will enjoy it. He said the facilities team talked to Gryphons and residence life coordinators, in addition to feedback  from the newest residence hall, SMH, to meet these goals. 

Responding to positive feedback about common spaces, Klocek said East Hill has more common space relative to floor area than any other residence hall at Lehigh. 

In response to the exterior design of East Hill looking more like SMH than the gothic style of the residence halls it sits between, Klocek said Lehigh is architecturally diverse depending on the different time periods buildings were constructed in.

“As an alum I gravitate to the collegiate gothic style of academic architecture that makes this portion of campus unique and feel collegiate,” Klocek said. “But if you take the time to look around, you’ll realize that the architecture on our entire campus really is of the era that the building was built. In this instance, (East Hill) is a slightly more modern interpretation and fits with the time that we’re living in.”

Klocek said East Hill will have a stone base and a slate facade to match the character of the campus, an aspect he said can be difficult to see in the online renderings. 

In regards to the trees being removed for the project, Klocek said most of the trees are only around 70 to 80 years old, and there are some older trees the team is trying to save. He said Lehigh’s arborist identified many of the trees that are being cut down as non-native to the area, and they will be replaced with native plants in a more than one-to-one ratio. Klocek said many of the trees being cut will be saved to make furniture for the residence hall.

A student perspective from Drinker House

Jeb Harper, ‘30, said he and many of his classmates were very surprised and annoyed when they saw the fence go up around University Drive. He said besides the email sent out from administration on Oct. 6 that announced the construction of East Hill, he didn’t hear anything  about it  from the school. 

Harper, who lives in Drinker, said he used to take the path between Drinker and M&M houses to his classes every day and now has to take a longer loop around the fence. He said his room is on the right end of the building, and faces the construction site. 

While Harper said he understands the need for more housing, he feels like there are other projects Lehigh could be prioritizing, such as overcrowding and equipment issues in Taylor Gym.

“It just annoys me that they’re putting all this money into the new building rather than all these other things they could be doing,” Harper said.

Harper said one of the main reasons he chose Lehigh was because of the aesthetics of the buildings, especially Drinker, Dravo and Richards, and he feels the new residence hall doesn’t look interesting in comparison.

Although he can’t speak for his whole class, Harper said most of the people he has talked to either don’t really care about the construction, or don’t like it, and he hasn’t met anyone in his class excited about the new residence hall. 

“I feel like they could have at least started over the summer,” he said. “I’m just mad they didn’t warn us more.” 

Groundbreaking event commemorating start of construction

President Joseph Helble, ‘82, attended the groundbreaking and said he’s excited to see the construction as it progresses over the two years. 

“I think it’s going to be a busy two years, but I think it’s exciting to see the capacity we’re going to be adding to student housing,” Helble said. “I think that this site will be completely transformed in two years, and open to the class of 2032.” 

Helble said the university is committed to having housing for first and second year students on campus, as well as options available to third and fourth-year students. 

“Being part of a first-year residential community was a really special part of my experience (as a Lehigh alumnus),” Helble said. “And to be able to offer a nice, brand new, state of the art residence hall to a significant fraction of our first-year class is really exciting.”