‘Monumental’ Bellefonte project slated for old armory. Restaurant, bar and more in the works
Bellefonte’s evolution from a sleepy Victorian borough to an ebullient destination is poised to take another step forward.
An ownership group led by local businessman Duane Reese paid $950,000 to purchase the former Pennsylvania National Guard Armory property at 1081 Zion Road. The deal was finalized Monday.
The Centre County native’s plans for the three buildings on the 7.5-acre property include a brewery, tasting room, distillery, restaurant and bar.
“Bellefonte has had a lot of false starts, and I really feel like this time Bellefonte is moving forward. It is really coming up,” Reese said Wednesday. “It is becoming very family friendly, a great place to live and more and more people are going there.”
The about 9,000-square-foot cement building that’s the farthest of the three from state Route 550 is expected to house the brewery. That project will take top priority, Reese said.
The tasting room is on deck. That portion of the business is expected to fill the about 3,700-square-foot building that once served as a horse stable.
Reese plans to then develop a distillery, though details for that are more up in the air. He didn’t rule out using the armory’s basement or constructing a new building.
The two-story restaurant and bar is expected to come last. It’s planned for the nearly 2,900-square-foot armory building. Each will be locally-owned, Reese said.
Live bands and entertainment, an outdoor beer garden and outdoor seating are also in his plans. About seven dozen people could be employed, if not more.
The project would be “monumental” in making Bellefonte a destination, borough Manager Ralph Stewart wrote in a statement Thursday.
“I think there’s room for us there in Bellefonte,” Reese said. “We don’t feel like we’re overcrowding the beer market or the distillery market. We feel like we’ll provide a lot of different options for people in Bellefonte.”
Reese refrained from floating a potential opening date. Fairly extensive renovations are needed, especially on the building that’s set to become the brewery.
The external renovations for that part of the project will aim to give the building “the look and feel of what it would have in 1940, post Prohibition.”
“We have a lot of work to do with this property,” Reese said matter-of-factly.
The property has sat unused for more than a decade. The borough bought the property from the state in March 2014 for more than $750,000. That was about $20,000 more than Centre County government offered.
The borough planned to use the buildings for municipal services — moving the police department out of its municipal building was the strongest consideration — but that didn’t happen. The local government instead sold the land for about $200,000 more than it paid to buy it.
The project would be the latest development to come to the Bellefonte area.
The Gamble Mill, Axemann Brewery, collective marketplace Belle Mercantile, a pair of women’s clothing retailers and a bridal shop are among the businesses that opened in the past three years.
The Bellefonte Waterfront Project — which includes plans for a restaurant, retail space, a boutique hotel, condominiums and a 300-space parking garage — is also moving forward. Construction is expected to begin in the summer.
Reese hopes he isn’t far behind.
“I’m looking forward to it,” Reese said. “... We’re really excited and grateful that we found it, and anxious to see how quickly we can get going.”
This story was originally published May 5, 2022 at 1:39 PM.