SOUTH WHITEHALL TWP., Pa. — Lehigh County officials on Friday celebrated the end of structural steel work on a major addition to the county-owned Cedarbrook nursing home.
“It's a tremendous milestone because it definitely proves our commitment to the future for our vulnerable citizens,” County Executive Phil Armstrong said.
“We're about a year behind. But the fact is — why I'm beaming today is — it's coming together.”
"They deserve our best.”Cedarbrook Administrator Jason Cumello
Finishing the steel frame marks the latest milestone in the long-running $67 million project to build a new 240-bed wing at Cedarbrook.
The structure will replace all of the home’s 1920s-built guest rooms and several others dating to the 1970s.
Whereas four residents share each room in the oldest wings, every room in the new addition has two beds. In the old building, all the rooms in each wing share a single communal bathroom; the new building includes private bathrooms attached to each room.
“It shows that we believe that, regardless of your payer source, everybody — Medicaid, private pay — everybody deserves modern accommodations," Cedarbrook Administrator Jason Cumello said.
"They deserve our best.”
With the new building’s steel frame in place, workers specializing in carpentry, plumbing, electrical work and mechanical systems soon will begin installing everything else that goes into a nursing home.
Currently, workers are on track to finish construction around Labor Day 2026, county officials said.
More than a decade in the making
Planning work to decide the home’s future began more than a decade ago.
The county “got serious” about construction in 2021, Lehigh County Director of General Services Rick Molchany said. Officials broke ground later that year.
Initially, county officials expected the new wing would open to residents in late 2023.
Delays mostly came from soil work needed to stabilize the sinkhole-prone earth beneath the project, Molchany said. The lingering effects of coronavirus pandemic-era supply shocks have not helped.
“I'm disappointed it took so long to get through the subsurface conditions,” Molchany said. “It's still an issue outstanding for me. I'm not happy about it, but it's where I'm at. We moved past that.”
Officials have not yet determined what will happen to the building residents will leave behind.
Initially, Cumello said, officials planned to convert them to independent living apartments like those in its Brookview apartment building.
Lehigh County Board of Commissioners ultimately will decide.
