Year in review: No shortage of business moves in 2015

It’s impossible to make a top 10 business stories list.

What follows isn’t in any particular order.

It also isn’t just 10 stories. Some categories are specific to a single story, but most entail a series of stories or similar tales.

Businesses close, open, get sold, developed and bought at an astonishingly fast pace in Centre County. Here were a few of those from 2015.

Businesses go up in flames, vow comebacks

Jim Waite, Robert Khayat and Bob Ricketts have an unfortunate situation in common — each of their businesses caught fire in 2015.

They each said, however, that they would rebound.

Ricketts will relaunch Fasta and Ravioli Co. in early 2016 in downtown State College by taking the the place of sister company Good Seed Baking Co. He also plans to reopen his store in Pleasant Gap where a fire damaged it on Christmas Eve.

Waite’s business, Jim’s Garage, and several of his classic cars in Bellefonte were destroyed in January. Khayat’s Penns Mobil burned down in February. All have said they plan to rebuild.

J.C. Penney closes, Dunham’s signs on as Nittany Mall anchor

The Plano, Texas-based J.C. Penney announced in January that it would close 39 stores, including the one in Nittany Mall. The store closed April 4, leaving a void in the mall since.

Dunham’s Sports, however, confirmed in July that it signed a lease with the mall to take over the space. The deal was made official in May.

The store will open in 2016.

The Autoport owners agree to sell

An agreement to sell The Autoport property and business prompted owners Greg and Lynda Mussi to close its doors Christmas Eve.

They avoided foreclosure with Enterprise Bank since 2014.

South Atherton Real Estate 1, a Pennsylvania limited partnership with the same address as Gregory Welteroth Holdings, will buy The Autoport for about $2.1 million in 2016.

Kildare’s property sold for development

CA Student Living bought the property where Kildare’s is located for $7.5 million in October.

Previous land owner Jeff Haas advocated for collegiate housing overlay projects to be developed on the 500 block of East College Avenue, and the Chicago based developers at CA Student Living could build an 11 story, 124-foot mixed-use building

It is unclear if the restaurant is in CA Student Living’s plans.

Study reveals growing fitness industry

A deeper look into the fitness industry showed more fitness-related businesses opening in State College.

A Centre Daily Times study, published in March, identified 31 fitness centers, including gyms, yoga studios and martial arts studios, in and around the State College area. There are 14 businesses that opened prior to 2010 and 17 in the past five years.

Local business owners said increased interest in health has enabled more fitness-related businesses to open.

CBICC, Penn State sign memorandum of agreement

The Chamber of Business and Industry of Centre County and Penn State agreed to partner in an effort to drive the area’s economy and fortunes of entrepreneurs.

CBICC President Vern Squier and Penn State President Eric Barron touted the partnership in a May announcement.

Under the plan, the university will work with the CBICC to turn Penn State ideas into businesses that stay in the community after the students graduate.

Small businesses matter

And, honestly, it’s not hard to find studies that say small businesses mean more to the local economy.

The CDT focused on small businesses for its annual Business Matters publications in February, publishing stories about how some small businesses in the county have been passed down for multiple generations, how others are unique and looking into small business trends.

Small businesses are, after all, the foundation of our county.

Mo Valley Medical Building opens

Penn Highlands Healthcare unveiled the 23,000-square-foot Moshannon Valley Community Medical Building in Rush Township in November.

It opened its doors the same month.

The $6 million project near the intersection of North Front and Railroad streets was aided by two grants, one totaling $1.75 million from the state Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program, as well as a $1 million Highmark Community Investment grant.

A&P site bought for development

Win Development, based in Florida, bought the long vacant A&P supermarket property for $2.85 million in April.

Patton Township’s Board of Supervisors approved plans for the site in June.

Mattress Firm and Qdoba Mexican Grill will occupy the retail-restaurant space. Vitamin Shoppe and Great Clips will take the dual retail space, and Panda Express will be a stand-alone restaurant.

Snow Shoe pipeline work

Superior Appalachian Pipeline installed 7 miles of pipe in Snow Shoe Township.

The project began in May.

The pipeline was connected to Dominion Transmission Inc.’s interstate pipeline and will likely be connected to Texas Eastern Transmission’s pipeline at a later date. SAP Vice President of Development Ken Magyar said the project was designed to gather and connect wells to the interstate pipeline.

Businesses open, close

If I could go back a year, I would have started a list for this.

Fischer’s on the Diamond, Sowers Harvest Cafe and Poppy and Co. opened eateries. Speedy Furniture, Miska & Reini Goldsmiths and Jewelers and Anthym debuted as retailers.

Others like Mr. Tux, The Gamble Mill and Confer’s Country Market bowed out of business. They are some of the most difficult stories to do, especially the homegrown businesses. Chains like Ruby Tuesday, Chili’s and Eat’n Park also served customers for the last time in Centre County.

This story was originally published December 30, 2015 at 7:06 PM with the headline "Year in review: No shortage of business moves in 2015."