BITS OF BUSINESS

Vacant Pizza Hut site draws interest

By Nick Malawskey

The closing of the Pizza Hut store a week and a half ago may mean another empty commercial space on East College Avenue — or does it?

Another restaurant company, whose owners asked that it not be named, is apparently very interested in the site.

According to one of the owners, they are pursuing a liquor license and, if a few other details fall into place, could open a new casual-yet-upscale restaurant on College Avenue.

It’s all still very tentative, and the prospective owners, who, by the way, have another local restaurant and ties to Penn State, said they should be able to release more information in the next few months.

Videon grabs award

Videon Central, a local manufacturing firm, picked up an award for “Manufacturing Business of the Year” from the Manufacturer’s Association of Central Pennsylvania.

Videon, founded in 1997 and headquartered in State College, has grown into one of the leading developers for Blu-ray, HD-DVD and HDTVs for consumers.

Todd Erdley, company president, said more than 2 million Blu-ray DVD players use Videon’s software. That number is expected to grow steadily over the next few years with the popularization of Blu-ray technology.

The company recently completed a 14,000- square-foot addition to its facility on Sandy Drive. The new space provides the company with manufacturing and specialized testing facilities.

A bright spot?

There’s been some good news these past few weeks on the economy that I thought I’d share.

The state’s Department of Labor and Industry released the April numbers on unemployment in the commonwealth.

After 14 consecutive months of rising unemployment, things skidded to a stop and the unemployment rate in the state held steady.

Seasonally adjusted, the rate was at 7.8 percent, according to L&I, up 2.8 percent from a year earlier.

This area has been well below the state average (5.6 percent as of March) but has also increased steadily for the past 11 months. The April numbers for Centre County will be available Tuesday, so we’ll see where we stand then.

Nationally, over the past week it’s been reported sales of previously owned homes rose 2.9 percent in April and the measure of consumer confidence also went up more than expected.

I don’t know how much confidence those numbers should inspire, as I suspect that we still have a long road ahead of us.

As an L&I analyst told me: “One month does not a trend make.”

Nick Malawskey can be reached at 235-3928.