HPU has more than $150M in projects under construction at start of new academic year
Monday, Aug 31, 2015
By Owen Covington
The dramatic overhaul and expansion of the High Point University campus continues as the academic year gets underway, with more than $150 million in projects now under construction at the school.
Closest to completion is Cottrell Hall, home to the new Flanagan Center for Student Success that carries a price tag of $22 million and was funded entirely by parents of current and former students.
With a grand opening slated for Oct. 3, the 43,000-square-foot hall includes the Office of Career and Internship Services, the Study Abroad center, Undergraduate Research and Creative Works, the Sales and Entrepreneurship Center and a Creative Commons.
Included at Cottrell Hall, which the Triad Business Journal reported on in 2013, is a 1,000-seat outdoor amphitheater positioned at the hall’s rear entrance that will be used for events and concerts.
“Our parents, alumni and philanthropic supporters know the value of an education from High Point University,” says HPU President Nido Qubein. “They understand that here, we prepare students not for the world as it is, but for the world as it is going to be. We are grateful for their support throughout this journey.”
During the past 14 months, the school has received $57 million in gifts and pledges, all but $8 million of which came from outside North Carolina. That tally includes two gifts of $10 million each and three gifts of $5 million each.
The biggest-ticket project now underway is the School of Health Sciences and the School of Pharmacy, an $88 million facility that will house both schools and is the single-largest investment in the university’s history.
The new facility, being built by Frank L. Blum Construction Co. of Winston-Salem, followed the closing of a portion of Montlieu Avenue through campus that allows HPU to consolidate its real estate.
Slated to be complete in 2017, it will include advanced biomedical research facilities, a cadaver lab, a medical simulation lab and space where instructors can record and critique how students care for simulated patients.