It’s been almost 8 years since the Autoport closed. What happened to new hotel plans?
The property once home to the historic Autoport has shown little signs of life in the past three years, the latest chapter in a decade marked by instability at one of State College’s most recognizable places.
The borough has had no contact with the developers of the former Autoport motel and restaurant property along South Atherton Street for at least 18 months, planning director Ed LeClear said Wednesday.
Plans for a proposed 122-room, extended-stay hotel remain active, LeClear said, but it’s not known when or if the project will move forward. They were submitted in January 2020, two months before the first coronavirus case was reported in Centre County.
Two phone calls to the principal owner of the South Atherton Real Estate I LP, which owns the property, went unanswered and did not accept a voicemail.
The borough has little, if any, recourse to compel redevelopment of the private property aside from enforcing borough ordinances like those that govern grass and brush.
“I probably get asked about the Autoport at least one a week,” LeClear said with a laugh.
The proposed hotel at part of the former Autoport motel and restaurant property, 1401 S. Atherton St., would include eight apartment units, one of which would be income-restricted.
The new building would be four stories, a design that irked residents and caused consternation among some members of the borough’s planning commission. The developers found a legal loophole — which Borough Council later closed — that allowed them to skirt an ordinance that limited new buildings in similar zoning districts to three stories.
About 25 people would be employed at the hotel.
The new building would be constructed on the west side of the property, adjacent to the shopping plaza that’s home to Talbot’s, Papa John’s and other businesses. Three buildings would be demolished.
The Autoport was Pennsylvania’s oldest motel until it closed in December 2015. The business’ former owners declared bankruptcy earlier that year. They sold the property for $2.1 million.