The new HealthEU building, recently named the Slattery Center, has reached its tallest point as it nears its anticipated grand opening in fall 2026. On the north side of the building, facing the Colonnades Neighborhood, workers have begun laying the traditional Elon red brick on the structure's outer walls. The south side has a finished structure, but no exterior walls have been added as of May 5.
According to chief facilities officer Brad Moore the building is on track to open in the fall, but an official opening date has not yet been announced. After the roof is completed, Moore said they’ll have a better estimate of when the opening will be, as the weather will no longer impact building progress.
“They’ll start with a permanent roof on the north side and then bring that across to the south side,” Moore said. “Once they get to that point, we call that ‘dried in,’ that frees them up to really continue to work no matter what the weather is doing on the outside of the building.”
Moore described completing the structure as the first phase, which he said is nearly 100% done. The next milestone is getting to that “dried in” state, which includes the roof and the exterior walls of the building. Moore said the roof should be complete in the next few months.
The next milestone will be plumbing and electric, and Moore said those are both well underway.
Posters and flyers have been put up around the Koury Center advertising the HealthEU center, listing additions like the rock climbing wall and brand-new equipment for the fitness center.
With certain amenities and facilities moving from the Koury Center to the Slattery Center, Moore said they have not made an official decision as to who and what will move into Koury.
“We have spent the last several months meeting with various campus partners about their needs and how they would fit into the spaces that are being vacated out of Koury,” Moore said. “We’re working right now to sort of fine-tune that list and see how many of those people we can actually fit into the building.”
Director of HealthEU Anu Räisänen said new student jobs will be developed as the building expands the HealthEU initiative. She said those roles will help showcase the programming to the greater student community.
“Their job is to connect all students with the Elon health and well-being resources,” Räisänen said. “Part of that team's work is also connecting students with the building. So, making sure that students on campus know what's in the building, they feel comfortable coming to the building. They can give feedback if we need.”
Looking forward to the opening of the Slattery Center, Räisänen said there are no official plans for what the grand opening will look like, but she expects it to be a day or weeklong event.
“All those things are possible once we know what that exact date is going to be and how it lands on the semester, because we also want to be mindful of what else is going on on campus at that time, because we have big events in the fall,” Räisänen said. “What I envision happening is really having a series of events for the fall with first students, faculty and staff, really to introduce them to different parts of the building.”
Moore said the building will not be open by the beginning of August, as it will take time to train staff and ensure they have a good understanding of how the building works.