Plans for State College area’s first Firehouse Subs ‘no longer moving forward’
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Firehouse Subs will not open a location in State College along North Atherton Street.
- Plans for the franchise are not moving forward after they were first revealed in February.
- It would have opened at 1682 N. Atherton St.’s Village Square plaza, which sits empty.
Plans to bring a fast-casual sandwich chain to State College are no longer moving forward, a company spokesperson said this week.
A Firehouse Subs franchise will not move into at a vacant space along North Atherton Street in Patton Township after all, according to EmmaJean Livingston, the chain’s senior manager of communications. Plans to open the company’s first Centre County location were first reported by the Centre Daily Times in early February.
It’s not yet clear why plans for the State College franchise fell apart. The company’s communications team has not yet responded to additional questions from the Centre Daily Times.
The exact address of the once-planned Firehouse Subs franchise was not entirely clear, but a photo shared by a company spokesperson in February suggested it would be located at 1682 N. Atherton St. in the Village Square shopping plaza. The property, which remains empty, served as the longtime home of a Fine Wine & Good Spirits store before it moved to the former Rite Aid at 1536 N. Atherton St.
Sanket Patel and Arun Patel, who are not related, were set to own State College’s Firehouse Subs franchise and oversee its opening. The pair already owns a Firehouse Subs franchise in DuBois.
If all ran smoothly, the Patels hoped to open State College’s franchise by the end of 2026, a company spokesperson said in February. The location likely would’ve hired between 20 and 25 team members, including three or four managers.
The closest Firehouse Subs franchises to State College remain in DuBois and Altoona. The company, founded by brothers and former firefighters in 1994, operates more than 1,248 restaurants in the U.S. and Puerto Rico and another 112 restaurants in Canada as of late 2024.
Even without Firehouse Subs, State College’s fast-casual sub sandwich and hoagie market remains competitive thanks to local options such as Moxmoe Pictures Famous Sandwiches and Pasti Bella at McLanahan’s Downtown Market and national chains like Jersey Mike’s. Subway, whose franchise at 100 S. Burrowes St. recently closed, still operates four locations spread across State College and Penn State’s campus, as well as shops in Milesburg and Philipsburg.
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