Lehigh University
HR&A worked with Lehigh University’s real estate team to develop a comprehensive redevelopment strategy for the university’s first innovation campus and two additional non-core campuses in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Through market analysis, industry stakeholder engagement, and collaboration with top academic researchers, we created a holistic development approach that aligns campuses around business development stages from basic research to startup maturation, leading to the university’s initiation of a solicitation process for private sector collaboration by August 2018.
Lehigh University sought to strengthen its research capabilities and regional economic impact through strategic campus development and needed clear understanding of market potential and programmatic alignment for innovation-focused real estate development in the Lehigh Valley’s tertiary market. They brought on HR&A to create an actionable development vision with strategies for funding, activation, and governance that would generate excitement and momentum for redeveloping non-core assets while building industry collaboration. HR&A’s approach combined comprehensive market analysis with direct engagement of regional industry leaders and collaboration with Lehigh’s top academic researchers to ensure development strategies reflected both market realities and university strengths.
Our recommended holistic redevelopment framework positions each campus to offer unique opportunities for entrepreneurs and researchers at different stages of business development, creating a comprehensive ecosystem supporting innovation from basic research through startup maturation and business growth. The strategic vision we developed provides clear pathways for fostering innovation throughout the Lehigh Valley while elevating the university’s standing as a premier research institution. The actionable strategies for development, funding, activation, and governance enabled Lehigh to move forward with initiating a solicitation process to identify private sector collaboration for revenue-positive redevelopment — the first step towards making their vision for an innovation campus a built reality.
