BETHLEHEM TWP., Pa. — The Notre Dame High School Crusaders are in for an all-new campus facility planned to serve competitive teams and boost general wellness for the entire student body.
Following a breezy groundbreaking Friday at the Bethlehem Township campus, the three-story, 19,580-square-foot academic field house is expected to open on the first day of the 2026-27 school year, officials said.
Project drawings show the $10 million dollar building will include locker rooms, coach offices and training areas for the football, baseball, softball and wrestling teams.
It's also planned to have batting cages, a 6,000-square-foot gym, a 3,600-square-foot wrestling room and a 1,500-square-foot weight room.
NDHS Principal Jaclyn Friel said it’ll be an academic building, too, with the design calling for eight classrooms.
Friel said the new spaces are "much needed as our enrollment continues to grow” and will serve 100% of the school's more than 500 students.
‘To dream a little bigger’
Friday offered a bit of nostalgia and a reminder for the Notre Dame student body and its predecessors.
“As we look ahead to the new annex ... We stand on the strong foundation of the school’s rich history."The Most Rev. Alfred A. Schlert, bishop of Allentown and Notre Dame High School ‘79 alumnus
“As we look ahead to the new annex — the building that will expand our academic options, flex space for athletics and student life, and support our mission of educating mind, body and spirit — we stand on the strong foundation of the school’s rich history,” said the Most Rev. Alfred A. Schlert, bishop of the Allentown Diocese and NDHS ‘79 alumnus.
Matthew Delaney, class of 2026, said the new building represents an opportunity “for every student to learn, to compete, to create and to dream a little bigger.”
It will stand on the footprint of a former one-story annex that was built in the 1960s and demolished in September.
That building was “the heart of Notre Dame’s campus life” at 3417 Church Road and “a backdrop to moments of growth, friendship and Crusader pride,” the school said in a media release.
NDHS is in its final fundraising phase for the new project, having now raised two-thirds of its set goal of $14 million.
Officials noted top project donor John Janitz, class of '60, passed away prior to the groundbreaking.
The school will plant a tree on campus in his memory.
