Mount Nittany Health’s 10-floor patient tower addition takes next step toward approval
Mount Nittany Medical Center’s bed tower project was recommended for approval with conditions during Tuesday night’s College Township Planning Commission meeting.
Mount Nittany Health announced its plans in October 2022 for a $350 million addition to Mount Nittany Medical Center. The 10-floor, 300,000-square-foot patient tower will include 168 private rooms, which will allow every patient to have a private room. The bed tower will serve as the new main entrance to the hospital.
The new rooms won’t increase the bed count but will be used alongside existing private rooms and some double rooms that will be converted to private, according to a press release.
Lindsay Schoch, principal planner for the township, gave an overview of the development planned for 1800 E. Park Avenue, State College. The plans include the bed tower addition, a 179 car parking garage and a central energy plant at the existing medical campus. Elements of the plan include sidewalks, landscaping, stormwater conveyance and utility work.
Township staff received the preliminary final plan and conducted its first round of reviews and submitted it back to the developer. Staff received the developers’ response to the comments and five comments are currently outstanding, Schoch said.
Those include designating an area to show future parking, which is a requirement when a plan requests a reduction in parking, as this plan does, she said. The staff requested they also consider a bike or multi-use path connection to Orchard Road and work with the township’s zoning officer and the Centre County 911 addressing department to establish new addressing for the hospital and related buildings. Other comments include amending exterior lighting compliance checklist and verifying that proposed landscaping will not conflict with existing utilities.
Parking was brought up multiple times throughout the discussion by township staff and planning commission members. Joseph Siekirk, of Plante & Moran CRESA, said they’ve done a parking study to look at the parking available on site and there is capacity to expand parking in the future, if needed.
Ed Darrah, planning commission member, questioned why they’re reducing parking. There are currently 1,482 parking spots and with the addition of the tower and the new parking deck, parking will be reduced by 80 spots.
Siekirk said they still exceed the amount of parking needed by roughly 300 spaces and are relocating the patient and visitor parking.
“We added a parking deck primarily because we have plenty of parking but we don’t have plenty of parking right at the front door for patients and visitors,” Siekirk said.
The planning commission unanimously recommended that the College Township Council approve the plan, with several conditions including providing a designated area for future parking, paying outstanding review fees, addressing outstanding comments, complying with the township’s code, providing proof of traffic impact study approval, and obtaining Penn State’s approval for temporary use of their land during construction.
Mount Nittany Health plans to break ground in a couple of months and complete the project by early 2026. The work will be undertaken in phases in order to limit disruptions, according to a press release from last year. The facility will include outpatient clinics, a modernized data center, enhanced dining and food service preparation, outdoor space for patients, staff and visitors, a parking deck and walkway, the health care system previously said in a press release. The design will incorporate natural light into the rooms in a sustainable building.
