Construction is underway on Howard Payne’s Newbury Family Welcome Center, the first new construction project at HPU in 20 years.  The welcome center is a 7,800 square foot facility that will have both a modern as well as a retro look. The exterior will be brick that’s a complement between Mims Auditorium and the Walker Memorial Library, as well as a lot of glass that provides for clean access on the way in.  The current timetable for completion is February 2022.

The original intent was for the construction of the facility to be further along at this point, but COVID-19 – like with most plans in the last year – played a significant role in the change.

“The plan was to launch pretty quickly after groundbreaking,” Hines said. “But one of the things that was important to us was that we could have a product that was within the scope of our budget. With COVID-19 and some of the changes with respect to construction materials, we had to work with architects to redesign different components of the facility to get the product that we want within the budget that was approved. So we had to have some design modifications and scheduling changes with respect to the design because of the pandemic,” said HPU President Dr. Cory Hines.

The facility is named for the family of Dr. Don Newbury, a 1961 graduate of HPU, president of the university from 1985 to 1997 and current chancellor.

The welcome center will be located at the intersection of Austin and Center Avenues on the historic former site of Old Main, the university’s original building, which was destroyed by fire in 1984.

(story courtesy of Derrick Stuckly of Brownwoodnews.com)