Bellefonte Borough approves new design for long-awaited waterfront project. What to know
The Bellefonte Borough Council approved a new design Monday for the Bellefonte Waterfront Project, with changes made to a number of features for the long-planned — and long-delayed — project.
The project’s new, unanimously-approved design — to be built in the open field above Spring Creek, directly across West High Street from Tallyrand Park — shows two adjacent buildings to be constructed, as opposed to the original design’s three-building complex.
The first of the two buildings, to be located at the corner of of Dunlop and West High streets, would be a 93-room, nationally-branded boutique hotel, complete with a farm-to-table restaurant and a rooftop lounge. The second building would house a 268-space parking garage, 48 condominium units and around 33,000 square feet of commercial space.
Gina Thompson, the Bellefonte Historic Architecture Review Board’s zoning and planning administrator, told the council that the project changed last spring to the two-building design. With that design, HARB asked developers to better match the second building with the historic aesthetic of the borough.
Aside from the change to a two-building complex, some minor changes in the hotel’s design were also made, including the addition of Juliet balconies over the hotel’s three entrances, the removal of a second-floor walkout area and the addition of corbels to sections of the West High Street side of the hotel.
The parking garage building’s design now includes an outdoor railing and window colors being shifted from white to black.
“I think the reason HARB asked to change from white to black is that it matches the wrought iron throughout town, whereas the white looks sort of beach-y,” Councilwoman Joanne Tosti-Vasey said during the meeting. “It just didn’t look like it quite fit in with the ambiance of Bellefonte.”
Looking ahead, the next step for the waterfront project would be for the development group to complete a lot consolidation on the project’s grounds. Then, a final land development plan including the new changes must be approved, which Thompson expects will take “a few months.”
Tom Songer, one of the project’s developers, told the Centre Daily Times in January that the goal was to see construction start later this spring, although that timeline is subject to change.
Despite the development process picking up now, the waterfront project has been at a standstill for years, and borough council members have aired their frustrations with the delays.
A motion on the council’s Feb. 18 meeting agenda “strongly encouraged” the project developers to break ground on the site “as soon as possible.”
Tosti-Vasey tried to set a groundbreaking deadline for the project, with fellow councilwoman Shawna McKean agreeing, although no deadline was put into place that evening.
“They’re wasting our time, and I don’t like the designs of the buildings — it sounds like its more of a private enterprise than really benefiting the borough ...” McKean said at February’s meeting.
At one point, the borough was optimistic that the first phase of construction would begin in spring 2019. Then it was 2020, at least until the coronavirus pandemic unfolded. As time passed, the developers were also hopeful it would begin in summer 2022 or spring 2024.
Bellefonte Manager Ralph Stewart wrote in a November report the developers did not receive the state funding they applied for and were looking at other financial avenues.
Songer told the CDT in January that if the project begins in 2025, the hotel and parking garage could be completed by fall 2026 and the condos ready to be occupied by late 2026 or the early part of 2027.
More updates on the Bellefonte Waterfront Project will be provided at future Bellefonte Borough Council meetings, which take place at 7:30 p.m. on the first and third Mondays of the month.