Big changes could be coming to the former Denny's site on North Atherton

Chipotle Mexican Grill and a Sleep Number mattress store might be coming to the real estate that used to be home to the Denny's at 1860 N. Atherton St.

A proposal submitted to the Patton Township Planning Commission on Monday called for the empty structure on site to be torn down and replaced with a new 5,402-square-foot retail building. The existing parking lot would also be scrapped and replaced with 37 new parking spaces. Chipotle — the second in State College aside from the Hiester Street location — would include 1,100 square feet of indoor seating and 300 square feet of outdoor seating.

Vehicles currently have to exit the site using Cornflower Lane, but the plan submitted to Patton Township call for a "right turn only" exit onto North Atherton Street, which would need to be approved by the PennDot Highway Occupancy Permitting process.

Township Manager Doug Erickson said that the plans were recommended to the Patton Township Board of Supervisors for approval.

"I don't expect any big controversy to come out of it. It's a fairly straightforward plan," Erickson said.

This story was originally published June 6, 2018 at 11:34 AM with the headline "Big changes could be coming to the former Denny's site on North Atherton."