Developer opening Bellefonte store, and she has more plans

A small corner of Bellefonte will come back to life with a new business opening.

Bellefonte Mart, a convenience store and gas station, opened Friday off West Lamb Street across from the Gamble Mill, which businesswoman Marian Bradley agreed to purchase about a year ago, though a sale has not closed.

Combine the restaurant’s eventual sale with the completion of the Bellefonte Waterfront Project, and Bellefonte Mart is the first of several new ventures on the western end of the borough to come to fruition. Developer and owner Dolly Singh also wants to open a salon and an apartment or hotel in Bellefonte.

“This is something that’s good for the community, and it is a part of the community,” Singh said. “It’s a family store, and we’ll have a lot of good stuff over here like pizza, hot dogs, ice cream, slushies, coffee, Cokes, Pepsis, sandwiches, milk, bread and everything else a convenience store should have.”

Bellefonte Mart has replaced Uni-Mart, which was gutted during a fire in June 2015. The prior building was demolished before Singh bought the property to rebuild.

“Even customers are excited to see it,” Singh said. “Every day we’re getting a lot of people stopping and finding out when we’re opening, so we’re extremely excited to be a part of Bellefonte.”

The convenience store will be open 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. Singh will host a grand opening when the school year starts in Bellefonte.

Orthodontists merge in Clearfield, Philipsburtg

Christopher Pine, of Pine Orthodontics, and Richard Doerfler, of Richard J. Doerfler and Associates, recently announced a merger agreement.

Doerfler, who will continue to work at his Clearfield location on Wednesdays through the summer and into the fall, will have a “reduced role” due to his increasing responsibilities as a professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine.

Pine will see Clearfield patients on some Thursdays and Fridays and will set permanent schedule in October.

“I have known Dr. Pine for over 30 years, first as his instructor in dental school and later as his colleague when he relocated to State College following graduation from his orthodontic residency training program,” Doerfler said in a release. “Dr. Pine and I have spent time together both in and out of the office, deepening our friendship which is built upon mutual trust, integrity and respect.”

All Philipsburg patients will see Pine at an office at 220 N. Front St.

Penn State startup wins $100,000

Project Vive CEO and founder Mary Elizabeth McCulloch wants everyone to have a voice, and her mission is $100,000 closer to being fulfilled.

McCulloch’s company, inspired after she got to know children with nonverbal cerebral palsy in an Ecuador orphanage, was awarded the grand prize in the Cisco Global Problem Solver Challenge. Cisco is a worldwide networking company that hosted a competition for college students and recent graduates with ideas for “technology solutions to global problems.”

Project Vive beat out more than 1,000 applicants, according to Cisco, which said that there are more than 4.5 million people who are nonverbal.

McCulloch created the Voz Box, a speech generating device for people with disabilities who otherwise would not be able to verbally communicate. She plans to return to Ecuador for a pilot study of Voz Box.

Project Vive was also recently awarded $5,000 at the 2017 ASME Innovation Showcase Competition in D.C.

This story was originally published July 13, 2017 at 6:40 AM with the headline "Developer opening Bellefonte store, and she has more plans."