The following was submitted by Hagen Construction, Inc.:
For Delaware Valley-based builder and developer Alfred “Fred” Hagen, of Hagen Construction, Inc., the opening of new buildings is pretty routine as he juggles up to 60 multi-million dollar projects stretching from this region to Alaska.
But the grand opening on Nov. 6 of a sprawling new headquarters and commercial services complex at 3300 State Road in Bensalem is a little different.
For Hagen, a son of Delco who went from working the Alaskan pipeline in the late 1970s to “banging nails” and ultimately becoming one of the nation’s top independent builders, this State and Street roads site is the custom designed headquarters for his hydra-headed business, intellectual curiosity and philanthropic interests.
An acclaimed historian and a documentary filmmaker, Hagen is also a trailblazer on a mission to revolutionize building and consumer projects and eliminate environment choking plastics with industrial scale hemp cultivation, processing and product development.
In a metaphor for a career marked with amazing saves and turnarounds, this project also challenged Hagen to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat by taking over a 72,000 square foot stalled and financially mired project that had been a lingering community irritant.
Now the new building complex will house the Hagen Construction building supply depot, its corporate office and a personal wellness center with fitness and spa facilities, massage therapist, stylist, a natural snacks and smoothie bar, as well as a retail center for Hagen’s own Sugar Bottom Hemp Company’s top quality Bucks County grown CBD stress and pain relief products.
Special guests at the grand opening will include Hagen’s high school track coach and local sports phenom Vince Papale, track team mate Dave Mercer, a retired Rear Admiral from the U.S. Naval Air Corps who led the first aerial strike into Afghanistan after 9/11, Dan Wyk, a retired general who led troop deployments in Afghanistan and Iraq, and longtime Hagen friend and adviser Lee Woolley, former CEO of BNY-Mellon Wealth Management and now CEO of what is to be the first federally-chartered Digital Bitcoin Bank.
The event begins at 5 p.m. with cocktails and hors d’oeuvres until 6:30 p.m. in Office Tower C-Suite. Dinner will be served in the 1st Floor Dining Room from 6:30 to 8 p.m.
What binds many in the group together are shared experiences with their host Alfred Hagen dating back to the championship Interboro High School Track Teams in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when Vince Papale was their coach. Witnessing Papale’s story of defying the odds and age by taking the field with the embattled Philadelphia Eagles as a 30-year-old rookie was a defining memory for the impressionable young men that he formerly coached.
Raised in a blue collar community, these young men were inspired to think of themselves as champions who could climb any mountain. Hagan and his teammates have not lost touch with their roots and they gather in tribute to the extraordinary experience they enjoyed in their formative years.
In addition to brief recaps of personal memories from members of the group, Fred Hagen will regale the gathering with his latest projects, following up his history-making campaign to find and recover more than a dozen sets of mortal remains of lost WWII American pilots and crews lost in the island jungles of the Pacific. On these epic expeditions, Hagen and his crew found and recovered the famed Swamp Ghost B-17E, one of the first U.S. bombers lost in active combat in the Pacific.
Hagen also found, recovered and reconstructed the B17 Swamp Ghost from its 78-year-old island jungle crash site from where it was taken for permanent display at the Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum. His expeditions have been the subject of a series of documentaries which air regularly on History Channel and Public Broadcasting Service.
Hagen, who is also one of the nation’s foremost collectors of authentic personal presidential historical documents, artifacts and memorabilia, will display a sample from his extensive U.S. presidential collection that contains items from every U.S. president.
On Nov. 6, Hagen will showcase some of his JFK items, including JFK’s bomber jacket, various documents and two paintings that JFK personally painted, along with glossy black and white photos of Jackie watching Jack paint.
